Welcome Home
by Viggorrah
Summary: An attack at a crime scene leaves Grissom in the hospital, seriously wounded and fighting to stay alive… GSR See profile for explanation of "new chapter".
1. Chapter 1

_**Title: **Welcome Home_

_**Author:**__ Viggorrah _

_**Pairings:**__ GSR (look for it later) _

_**Setting:**__ During the late 7th Season (after Grissom's sabbatical); early 8__th__ Season_

_**Disclaimer: **__If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the __**hell **__do you think I am? _

_**Rating: **__Was M at first, but is now T._

_**Summary: **__Everything starts off normally..._

CHAPTER I

It was the beginning of yet another shift. Gil Grissom, the CSI Graveyard Shift Supervisor, and Sara Sidle, the tall brunette CSI, had a 419 to process in Henderson. The drive to the scene was relatively short; only about twenty-five minutes. Once the two CSIs had arrived, Grissom parked his midnight blue Denali as close to the yellow "Crime Scene" tape as he could. He and Sara both got out of the truck and grabbed their field kits from the backseat. They met the Homicide Captain, Jim Brass, about halfway to the house. Together, all three of them walked up to the red stucco, two-story house. After the pleasantries were exchanged between the three, Grissom got right down to business.

"So, what do you have for us, Jim?"

"Tony Talbot; Caucasian male; mid twenties. Single gunshot wound to the chest. Bullet ripped through the heart and, virtually, bled out. David pronounced TOD at about 6 p.m. yesterday. The maid of the house found him when she came by the house tonight. The body's upstairs in the master bedroom." Brass replied. (It was currently 1 a.m.)

"Alright. Sara, I want you to work downstairs while I go upstairs and examine the body." Grissom told Sara as they worked their way through the hoard of officers around the house. When they finally got through the front door, Grissom headed left towards the stairs and Sara kept going forward into the living room.

* * *

On the upper level, Grissom was just getting ready to process the body. '_Well, there's no doubt he bled out…_' Grissom thought to himself as he scanned the master bedroom. There was a massive blood pool beneath the body. The body had a pair of black jeans on and a blue and white (well, used to be blue and white) Polo™ shirt on. He set down his silver field kit, opened it, and grabbed a pair of transparent latex gloves. After putting on the gloves, he got his camera out, crouched next to Tony Talbot's body, and started to work.

* * *

Back downstairs, Sara looked around the living room. It was a modest, middle-class living room. Nothing out of the ordinary; nothing misplaced or missing. '_I wonder what I should look for first…_' She thought and, after thinking about what she had just said, shrugged. '_Anything that's useful towards the case I suppose._' She turned around and called Jim over.

"Did the maid mention anything about something that might have been missing or taken?" He shook his head.

"No, she didn't. We can go ask her, though. She's standing outside."

"No, it's ok. This doesn't look like a B and E, anyway, but I just thought I'd ask."

"You're sure you don't want to go ask her? It's not like we'd be bothering her or anything, Sara." Jim said with a smirk. She shook her head and smiled at him. "Well, ok. I'll be outside or upstairs. Call if you need me." With that, he walked away and left her to process the living room.

* * *

About three and a half hours later, Sara had collected some fingerprints off of some doorknobs and lots of photos of the whole downstairs level. By this time, there was only one officer, besides Brass, that was still at the scene. She hadn't heard anything from Grissom about the body or the top level, so she decided to head upstairs.

"Grissom?" she called when she got to the top of the stairs. "Where are you?"

"Last door on your right." Came his response. She walked to the room he had indicated and saw him crouching down, packing his equipment and evidence away.

"Did you find anything downstairs?" He asked as he turned to face her, still crouching.

"A few fingerprints, some footprints, and lots of fun photos." She answered with a shrug.

"Hey, it's better than nothing." He pointed out with a smirk.

"Yeah, I guess so. What did you find?"

"I found a few fingerprints and some hairs on the body. Besides that, nothing." He stood up and sighed. "Well, grab all the evidence you _did_ find and load it into the back of my truck. I'm going to finish up in here and do the same. I'll be down shortly so we can get back to the lab to start processing." He pulled the keys from his pocket and handed them to her. She received the keys, headed out the master bedroom, and back downstairs. She gathered everything in her kit and went outside to Grissom's Denali. She popped the trunk and put her stuff inside. She waited down there for a couple of minutes and talked with Brass about the case. After their talk, Brass said his goodbyes and he, and the other officer, left. She decided to go help Grissom with his stuff. When she went back into the house, she heard some rustling in the upper level…

_TBC_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Title: **Welcome Home_

_**Author:** Viggorrah _

_**Disclaimer: **If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the **hell **do you think I am? _

_**Summary: **Conflict arises…_

CHAPTER II

As soon as Sara left, Grissom crouched down and started to gather his stuff. As he was packing up he heard a strange noise behind him. He swung around on his heels.

"Wh-?" Grissom never finished as he was punched in the face. He stumbled back from the force of the blow but managed to stay on his feet. He was barely standing when he was tackled and hit the wall. His breath was momentarily knocked out of him, but at the same time kneed his attacker in the stomach. Grissom's counterattack got him unpinned from the wall and he took full advantage of it. He ran towards the attacker and tackled him to the floor. They ended up exchanging blows until the attacker threw Grissom off and stood up. Grissom got up with his back to his attacker. He quickly turned around. His eyes grew wide as he stared down the barrel of a .45.

"Who are you and why are you doing this?" Grissom, who was trying to stay calm, asked him.

"All them fingerprints and hairs are me and my brother's. I can't let you take 'em with ya."

"So…you killed him?" Grissom asked, motioning to the body. The assailant nodded.

"Yah, and I told my brother to move 'im. We would've hid him if that damned maid hadn't come to the house early. I told my brother to leave and that I would take care of things here." He seemed to have calmed down a little, when he suddenly rekindled the fire in his eyes. "But when you and your lil girlfriend showed up, I knew we was screwed. The people called you two 'The Perfect CSI Couple' of the Las Vegas Crime Lab on TV." He answered, motioning angrily in Grissom's general direction. Grissom's face twitched in anger for a second, but then changed to a sheepish grin.

"You've got to believe me: we weren't particularly…_aware_ of that…" Grissom answered. 'T_his is ridiculous…I'm going to _kill _Ecklie the next time I see him. That could have only come from him…What's his problem anyway?_' He glanced at the guy standing in front of him. '_Well, at least some of the population is too stupid to understand the hidden meaning…_' He sighed quietly.

"Speakin' of your lil girlfriend, where is she?" He saw Grissom's body tense, his hands ball up into fists, and his eyes flare.

"Alright, one," He started angrily. "She's outside, waiting for me to join her so we can leave and get back to the lab. And two, she's not my girlfriend, she's my coworker." He answered hotly. '_Sara's more than both of those things, but he doesn't need to know that…and I really hope she doesn't come back inside looking for me…Well, before I can take this punk out anyway…_' As if on cue, he heard Sara calling him from downstairs.

"Griss? Grissom! Hey, do you need any help up there?" the gunman looked in the direction he heard her voice. '_Damn it to hell; there goes Plan A…_' Grissom thought.

"Oh, goody!" He said in mock-excitement. "Call her on up here! We can have a big ol' party!" Grissom shook his head.

"No. You've got me. She stays out of this."

"Hey, man. You ain't in no position to be makin' demands." He growled as he pointed the gun right at Grissom's heart. "_I_ said call her up here."

"And _I_ said no." Grissom growled back and glared at him for reinforcement. He would've thought he'd be feeling a bullet slice through him now, but instead he saw the gunman smirk in amusement.

"She _is _your girlfriend, isn't she?" Grissom gave him a death glare in response. He just smiled. "Once I get through with you, me and her," he gave a perverted smile. "We're gonna have ourselves some fun…" He watched as a fire grew in Grissom's eyes. "I might just leave you alive _just _so you can watch and know that's it's entirely _your_ fault. How'd you like th-" He was cut off by Grissom running into him and into a dresser. They found themselves on the floor again while Grissom yelled through the house to Sara.

"SARA! TELL BRASS TO GET HIS ASS BACK HERE NOW!" He heard her ask him something. He wasn't really paying attention to her question as he fought for control of the gun. '_Oi, why doesn't she just listen to me…?_' "DON'T ASK QUESTIONS JUST DO IT _NOW_!" He was relieved when he heard her say something close to 'ok'.

* * *

Sara immediately knew something was wrong. Grissom was in trouble up there. She whipped her cell out and pressed speed dial number two.

"Brass."

"Jim! Get back to our crime scene right NOW! Something's wrong, but I don't know what. I think Gil's in trou-" As she was talking, two gunshots rang out from upstairs followed by a yell from Grissom. Sara couldn't make out what he had said, but she could tell he was on the receiving end of the gunshots. "Grissom! Are you alright? Answer me, Grissom!" She was answered by another yell by Grissom and his assailant, she guessed. "GRISSOM!" Her answer was simply another two gunshots and three thuds.

"_WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!_" screamed Brass. He paled as he realized that the shots came from the other side of his phone. "_SARA?! ANSWER ME SARA! SARA!_" He threw the phone into the passenger seat, turned the car around and exceeded the speed limit by at least forty.

* * *

"GRISSOM!" She called. No answer. "GRISSOM, ANSWER ME!" She was answered by more silence. She ran upstairs with her weapon in hand. She checked all the rooms and then went into the one she left Grissom in. She hoped with all her heart that Grissom was standing in the middle of the room standing over another dead body. When she entered the room, there was a rather large blood stain on the wall directly behind Grissom. As for Grissom himself, he was on his stomach facing away from her in a growing blood pool, unconscious. "NO!! GRISSOM!!!" She ran over to him clearly forgetting to check the room for anyone else. She saw one bullet hole in his back as she slowly fell onto her knees beside him. '_Oh God, no…_' She carefully rolled him over onto his back and felt her eyes start to water. '_Please, no…_'

_TBC…_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Title:** Welcome Home_

_**Author:** Viggorrah_

_**Disclaimer:** If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the **hell** do you think I am?_

_**Summary:** Discovery isn't always good._

CHAPTER III

Grissom's jacket had a total of four ragged holes in it. The one she saw in his back was the exit route for the bullet that ripped through the left side of his chest. There was one in his right shoulder and another in his left side, two to three inches below his ribcage. All four had blood seeping out of them. She moved his head over and held out a shaky hand to his neck to check for a pulse. She released the breath she didn't realize she was holding. '_He's alive...His pulse is weak, but at least it's there..._' she thought to herself. Grissom was alive, but just barely. She heard something downstairs ringing and realized it was her cell phone. Sara felt something graze her shoulder. She turned back around and was surprised to see Grissom reaching out to her with his left hand.

"Grissom? Gil?" Sara said to him. She grabbed his hand and felt her heart leap when he squeezed it. He slowly focused his eyes on her face. "Thank God you're awake. Ok, I need to patch you up. I don't want you bleeding out on me, ok?" she told him. He tiredly nodded in response. She moved over to his silver field kit and got a gauze roll out of the bottom. Unfortunately, he had already used three-fourths of it. '_Damn, he only has a little bit. What the hell Grissom? I thought you were the one always telling us to be prepared._' She glanced back over at him. '_No one could have prepared for this..._'

* * *

Grissom listened as Sara ransacked his field kit for something to bandage his wounds with. '_Ahh, damnit...I'm not exactly sure where I shot him, but it must've been enough to knock him out. I didn't hear him get back up. Hell, he probably thinks he killed me._' Grissom weakly smirked to himself. '_Jackass...I hope I didn't kill him. I want him to live so I can nail him..._' He started to feel tired and his eyelids began to droop. Sara noticed him and shook his uninjured shoulder gently to prevent him from falling unconscious. He reopened his eyes and glared so she would stop shaking him. 

"S-stop...it...Sa-...ra...that...hurts..." An annoyed Grissom said, but with obvious pain and difficulty in each word.

"I'm sorry, Griss, but I need you to stay awake for me." She said as she tore off a piece of gauze. She held the gauze in her mouth as she carefully unzipped his jacket and unbuttoned his shirt. She started with the one below his ribcage. She carefully placed the gauze on top of the hole. His whole body tensed. She started crying when he yelped and closed his eyes in pain. He said something inaudible under his breath. She moved to his next one, the one in his chest. She looked at the position of the bullet wound and almost immediately, turned pale.

"Hey, Grissom? Gil? Gil, look at me." She said. At the use of his given name, he slowly opened his eyelids and produced his glazed-over azure eyes. "Does it hurt to breathe? Is it hard for you to breathe?"

"Y-yeah..." He said with a weak nod to reinforce his answer. She shakily sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"I think the bullet punctured your lung, Griss." She said as she pointed to the wound. He looked at her and gave a pained sigh. She finished bandaging his chest as well as she could and ran out of gauze. She heard her cell ringing again downstairs and glanced towards the stairs. "That's probably Jim. I dropped the phone and we got cut off. I need to go get my phone. He's probably worried _sick_..." She turned back to Grissom and cupped his face in her hands. "I need you to do something for me, though. I need you to put pressure on your shoulder. I ran out of gauze and I'll have nothing else to stop the bleeding until Jim gets here." His left hand slowly moved to his right shoulder and pressed down on the wound. His eyes closed, his teeth clenched to prevent another yell of pain from escaping his lips, and his right hand balled up into a fist. "Alright. I'll be _right_ back." She got up and ran downstairs to her phone. She grabbed it off the floor, turned on her heel, and ran back upstairs to Grissom. She kneeled next to him, flipped open her phone, and sped-dialed Brass.

* * *

Brass' phone started ringing and he looked at the caller ID. It read 'SARA S.'. He nearly ripped the phone in half while he opened it. 

"Oh, thank God! What the hell happened, Sara? Are you and Gil alright?" Brass hastily inquired.

_"I'm fine, but Gil...-he's been shot Jim..."_ Sara choked out while her eyes started to tear again. Grissom cracked open his eyes to look at her when she mentioned his name. She had removed his hand from his shoulder and had placed hers there instead. The blood was still finding its way through and around her fingers. As for Brass, he nearly drove off the road. He regained control (of his car and himself) and kept burning rubber towards the house.

"W-WHAT? How badly? How much blood has he lost? Is he conscience? Who the HELL did this to him?" Brass barraged her with questions about Grissom's condition.

_"The guy shot him three times, Jim. He's conscience, but I don't know how much longer he can stay awake. He's lost a lot of blood already and he's loosing even more now. I think one of the bullets punctured his lung, too...Speaking of the other guy, where is he?"_ Grissom lifted his head up to see over his chest, weakly lifted his left hand and pointed past her. She looked followed his gaze and noticed a pair of feet peeking out from the opposite side of the bed. There was blood pooling underneath the unconscious man. _"He's a couple of feet away from us, Jim. He's unconscious and bleeding."_

"He is? Really?"

_"Yeah. I think Grissom and he shot each other at the same_ _time."_ She looked at him for confirmation, but his eyes were half-closed and his head turned away from her, unbeknownst to him. _"Grissom?"_ He didn't do anything to acknowledge that he had heard her and his eyelids drooped a little bit more. "_Grissom!_" He jerked back in the conscience realm and some of the haze in his eyes went away. He turned his head back towards her and groaned. "_Brass is almost here. Just stay with me Gil, okay? Stay with me._"

"Sara? Sara! What happened? Talk to me Sara!" Brass was practically yelling into his phone.

_"He's is fading fast, Jim and-...Oh shi-...How far are you? Did you call for the paramedics?"_

"Yeah, I radioed them. They should be about four minutes behind me."

_"We may not have four minutes, Jim..."_

_TBC...?_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Title: **__Welcome Home_

_**Author:**__ Gil Gr1ssom _

_**Disclaimer: **__If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the __**hell**__do you think I am? _

_**Summary: **__Jim enters the picture._

CHAPTER IV

Jim was becoming very uneasy at what she was saying and how she was saying it.

"Why? What's wrong?"

_"He's bleeding through the gauze and he's going into shock."_ She answered with a look of sheer horror and fear on her face. The gauze she had placed on his wounds was no longer beige; it was red, soaked in blood. She watched as Grissom involuntarily shivered.

"C-cold..." He whispered. She put Jim on speakerphone and set her phone down. Tears ran down her cheeks as she took her jacket off and put it over his bare chest while applying pressure to his shoulder. He groaned, but placed his bloody left hand over to put on top of hers, as if to help. She gave him a small, but sad, smile.

_"Brass, where the hell are you? I can't take care of him by myself! He's gonna die if we don't get him to a hospital soon..."_ She said into the phone. As she finished her statement, she heard a car come to a screeching halt outside.

"NO. No, Sara he can't. He won't. I won't let him. You can't let him either. Be strong for him. I'll be right up." Brass answered and hung up his phone. Seconds later, Sara saw him run up the stairs with a first aid kit in his hand. She watched his eyes grow large as he saw Grissom.

"Holy..." The image of Grissom lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood would haunt Jim for a good, long time. Grissom's skin was pale and his eyes were glazing over. His breathing was shallow and in short gasps. Grissom looked up and gave Brass a weak smile.

"H-hey...J-jim..." Grissom choked out. Brass gave him a small smile in return.

"Hey, Gil." _'Damn it. He's worse than I thought. Sara's right; we...he might not have four minutes...'_ He took a deep breath. "Alright Sara, let's see what we can do until the paramedics get here." He said as he unlocked the first aid kit. He looked over the contents and frowned. "Sara, keep him conscience. By all means, keep him awake. I'll try and do what I can with what I have in here."

"O-ok, Jim." She answered while wiping her tears. She moved around to give Brass some room to work. She turned towards Grissom and proceeded to carry out her task. She put her hands on his cheeks again.

"Hey, Griss…I, uh, need to keep you awake. I don't want you to talk because it might make the injury to your lung worse. Just listen, ok?" She told him. He painfully nodded and groaned as Brass carefully removed the gauze from his wound below his ribcage.

"I know it hurts Griss. Just hang on for a little while longer; you're doing great. Hold my hand. Squeeze if you need to. Just hang on to my hand and listen to my voice." Sara told Grissom while she grabbed his hand. He immediately squeezed her hand. She smiled. "Great job, Griss. Just hang in there…"

"Sorry, Gil. I'm not really certified for this type of thing." Brass said with a sheepish smirk. He looked in the kit for some medical tape. Although he didn't see it, his apology earned him a weak "Don't apologize" glare from Grissom. When he didn't find any tape, he looked to Sara. "You wouldn't by chance have any medical tape anywhere would you? I'm fresh out."

"No, all I _had _was gauze." She responded. Jim sighed.

"Well, it looks like we're going to have to hold these in place until the paramedics get here." He held up some bandages and gave one to Sara. "You get his shoulder. I'll get the other two."

"Ok, well, Griss, we're sorry, but this is going to hurt like hell." Sara said.

"H-how…d-do…y..ou…thi…nk…I…f-feel…r…ight…n-now…?" Grissom's raspy voice said between breaths; he answer was soon followed by a coughing fit. Sara moved behind him and propped his head on her legs so he could breathe as easily as he could.

"Hey! What did I tell you? Don't talk. I mean it Grissom. Don't talk anymore. You're only going to make your injury worse." Sara felt something warm on her left leg. She looked down at Grissom's mouth; blood was leaking out of his mouth onto her pants. His eyelids were drooping again.

"That's not a good sign." Jim said. Sara looked up at him and saw the worry in his eyes. "He's coughing up blood, Sara…the bullet _did_ puncture his lung…" Sara grabbed the bandage that she put on the ground.

"We've got to put these in place or you're going to bleed out." She told him. Grissom just tensed as in response as Jim proceeded to put the bandages in their places. He could have sworn he saw black dots in front of his eyes. He couldn't suppress his pain and shrieked while shutting his eyes tightly. Sara put hers on his shoulder and then tried to calm him down.

"It's ok, it's ok. Shhh..." She put her free hand up to his cheek. It was cold and clammy. "Griss, I know it hurts, but I need you to open your eyes for me. Come on, honey; let me see your eyes." One of his eyes popped open and tried to focus on her, but he couldn't. His eye slipped shut and his body went limp. "No, no, no! Come on, Grissom, wake up!" Her attempt was futile as he had already passed out. She was bawling now. "Gil…"

"Sara! Sara! Listen to me. I hear the sirens. Do you hear them?" He paused so she could hear them and then continued. "It sounds like they have an air unit with them. They're really close. He'll be fine, Sara. He'll be OK…" He reassured her. Sara nodded and a few minutes later, she glanced at Jim. He was lost in his own thoughts while keeping his bandages on Grissom's wounds. Then, she felt something move under her bandage. Or rather it's what she felt _not_ move. Sara paled; Grissom had stopped breathing.

_TBC…? DUN DUN DUN! _

_A/N: Cliffhanger! I'm so evil…Heheh_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Title: **Welcome Home_

_**Author:** Viggorrah_

_**Disclaimer:** If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the **hell** do you think I am?_

_**Summary:** More problems arise…_

CHAPTER V

"Grissom? GIL! JIM!" Brass snapped out of his thoughts. "He's not breathing, Jim!!" He immediately started to perform CPR. Sara felt helpless as he tried to get Grissom breathing again. She heard footsteps in the house.

"CAPTAIN BRASS?" She heard someone yell.

"WE'RE UPSTAIRS; IT'S THE LAST DOOR ON YOUR RIGHT! AND PLEASE HURRY! HE STOPPED BREATHING!" Sara screamed throughout the house. They both heard multiple pairs of footsteps running up the stairs. Jim looked towards the door and moved to give the paramedics room to work. He walked over to Sara and watched them work on their friend.

"No air movement in the air passages, sir!" As they were working, they took off Sara's jacket, Grissom's jacket and his shirt and threw them over to the side with a disturbing** PLOP.**

"Put pressure on his shoulder!"

"Hurry up and get me an oxygen mask already!" The apparent head paramedic put his pointer and middle finger to the bottom side of Grissom's wrist. "_Shit_, I'm losing his pulse! We need to get him outta here _NOW_!!" As soon as he barked his order, they put Grissom on a stretcher and hurriedly wheeled him out of the room and downstairs. They watched some other paramedics work on the other guy with disinterest. Jim looked at Sara's clothes. They weren't beige and blue anymore; they were red. _Blood_ red.

"Come on, Sara. Let's go outside." Brass put his hand on the small of her back and led her down the stairs. When they got outside, they were greeted by a hoard of news reporters, cameramen, police officers, and flashing lights _everywhere_. Sara ignored everyone; Brass glared at every single one of the news reporters. '_Well, since these morons are here, I guess I won't have to worry about calling the Lab; they'll know within ten minutes…_' The closest news reporter turned their camera away from the helicopter and towards the walking twosome. Brass turned his head away and stole a glance at Sara. Her eyes were glued to the ground and tears were still falling down her face. "They took him to Desert Palm. When we get there, they'll probably be prepping him for surgery-"

"How are we going to tell his mother?" She asked without looking up at him. The question took him off guard. He stopped for a moment, and then resumed his walk with her to his car.

"I…I'm not sure, Sara. I'll call her after we get to the hospital and find out what's happening with Gil." He led her to his car and they drove off to Desert Palm Hospital.

_TBC_

_A/N: I know this was kind of a short chapter. The next one's going to be longer and include the rest of the Graveyard Shift CSIs, I promise._


	6. Chapter 6

_**Title: **Welcome Home_

_**Author:** Viggorrah _

_**Disclaimer: **If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the **hell **do you think I am? _

_**Summary: **Word gets to the Las Vegas Crime Lab…_

CHAPTER VI

Catherine Willows, Grissom's second-in-command, was strolling through the halls of the Las Vegas Crime Lab. She was looking for Warrick Brown, the tall, green-eyed African American CSI. Grissom had put them on a case together that night. She spotted Greg Sanders, the lab rat-turned-CSI, as he ran up to her.

"Hey, Greg. Have you, by chance, se-"

"_Where_ have you been? Have you been to the break room?" He asked her between breaths.

"No…Why? Did something happen?"

"Come on!" He grabbed her forearm and ran back to the break room. When passing the break room, all she saw was heads staring at the TV screen. The Graveyard Shift CSIs along with Archie, Conrad Ecklie, Sheriff Atwater and some of the other lab techs were all in the break room. It was totally quiet with the exception of the TV.

"…**Thanks, Frank. We're here at a crime scene that Las Vegas Crime Lab Crime Scene Investigators Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle were processing. But as you can see behind me, something went horribly wrong."** The scene changed to the paramedics running to get Grissom out of the house. His eyes were closed, he had an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth, and his whole torso was covered in blood. His hand was dangling off the side of the stretcher, motionless.

"…**paramedics rushed into the house not two minutes ago to try and save the life of Gil Grissom, who was shot multiple times by an unknown assailant. They airlifted him to Desert Palm Hospital where he is in critical condition."** The scene changed again.

"…**Las Vegas PD Captain James Brass and CSI Sidle are shown here walking to his car to meet the helicopter at Desert Palm."** Jim and Sara's clothes were smothered in Grissom's blood. The scene changed yet again to less animated paramedics wheeling off another man they didn't recognize.

"**The man you see here is who police is saying is the supposed assailant. As of right now, that's all we know. We'll keep you posted as this story develo-"** Ecklie switched the TV volume to MUTE.

"Has anyone talked to Brass or Sara?" Sheriff Atwater asked the people occupying the room. His answer was a few head shakes and some quiet 'no's. He sighed.

"Alright, everyone. Get back to work." Ecklie said. The lab techs filed out, but the CSIs stayed, shocked by the news they had just heard. He put a smug smile on his face. "Come on guys. Those cases aren't going to solve themselves, y'know." Nick Stokes, the Graveyard Shift CSI from Texas, was trying his best not to slug Ecklie. Greg was staring at the TV as it silently showed the helicopter take off. Catherine turned her head and gave Ecklie a death glare. Warrick turned around to face Ecklie so fast he almost gave himself whiplash.

"What the hell do you mean 'Get back to work'? You say that like nothing's wrong! Like nothing's happened!" Warrick said angrily. "_Grissom_ was just _airlifted_ to the _hospital_." He annunciated each word as if Ecklie were a child in elementary school. "Didn't you see Jim and Sara's clothes? Griss is in really bad shape. We need to be up there with them...with him." The other three CSIs silently, but firmly, nodded in agreement. Greg changed his gaze from the TV into an uncharacteristic glare to Ecklie. Nick moved to stand next to Warrick and crossed his arms.

"This isn't the time for you to be a pain in the ass, Ecklie." Nick added while Ecklie scowled at him. There was an awkward silence as the four Criminalists glared at Ecklie. Sherriff Atwater finally broke the tension between the two shifts.

"Graveyard is officially off the clock. The cases they were working are now Dayshift's." He declared. Everyone looked at the sheriff.

"I already have cases for them to wo-" Ecklie started.

"Look, Conrad. I'm not in the mood to argue with you. That means that they're just going to have to pull doubles. Call them. And get them here. Now."

"My CSIs don't deserve to be called in early just because Graveyard has a problem-"

"Damn it, Ecklie!" It looked as if a volcano had erupted in the sheriff's eyes. "This 'problem' as you call it doesn't just apply to one single shift; it applies to the whole lab! Hell, it's _Grissom _Ecklie. He's a CSI level three and a forensic entomologist. Can you even _spell _entomologist?" Ecklie was about to argue, but the sheriff cut him off by continuing. "He's an essential part of this lab, Ecklie. He's the damn reason this lab went from number fourteen to number two in the _entire_ country!"

"Sir, I don't doubt what he's done for the lab. I'm just suggesting that Graveya-" The sheriff shook his head.

"Did you _see_ him, Ecklie? Did you _hear _what they said? The likelihood of Grissom surviving is _very _slim. So don't go calling him getting shot a 'Graveyard problem'!" The four Criminalists winced at the mere thought of that Grissom probably wasn't going to make it, but they all kept quiet.

"I…"

"Hey, I got an idea. Why don't _you _'Get back to work' and let _me _handle this."

"Why are you being so hos-"

"I don't have to explain myself to you. And unless you're going to start looking for another job, I suggest you get your ASS BACK TO WORK!" Ecklie, for the first time anyone saw, looked terrified. "Go. _Now_." Ecklie scurried out of the room. Sheriff Atwater turned to the others. "You four," He pointed at them angrily. "I don't want to see until your own shift. And don't come in early. Dayshift's covering your cases until then. Got that?" They all quickly nodded. They had never actually been around the sheriff when he was angry. If the sheriff was angry with any of them, they heard it from Grissom, not the sheriff. "Good. When you do get back, you'll be working the case that Grissom and Sara were working plus Grissom's case. Now get out of here before I change my mind." They walked out of the break room. Once they were out of earshot, Greg voiced his thoughts.

"Man, who pissed in his Cheerios this morning?" He asked.

"I don't know man. But someone _did_, that's for sure. As long as Ecklie got the brunt of his attack, I really and truly don't care." Nick answered.

"I could care less who decided to mark the sheriff's cereal as their personal property at the moment. The only thing I care about right now is getting to Grissom. Someone needs to get in touch with Jim or Sara." Warrick said.

"I'll call Jim." Catherine offered. "We're going to take my truck. Warrick, you're driving." She whipped out her phone and sped-dialed Brass.

* * *

When Sara and Jim got to the hospital, they went immediately to the receptionist's desk. She greeted them with a smile. Jim leaned on the counter while Sara stood next to him.

"Hi. There was someone by the name of Gil Grissom that probably just arrived here. Do you know where we can wait for him?" Jim asked her.

"Uh, let me check the computer real quick." She turned her attention to her computer screen. Windows minimized and opened on her computer screen. "Grissom, Gilbert; Caucasian, male, early fifties; three total gunshot wounds to his shoulder, chest, and abdomen areas…" She was reading off Grissom's information like he was on a slab in the morgue. "He's currently listed as Very Critical. They're prepping him for surgery. You can go to the second floor waiting area. It's just off to your right after you get off the elevators."

"Ok, thanks." Jim hurried off with Sara to the elevator. Just as the door opened, his phone started to vibrate in his pocket. He checked the caller ID; it read 'CATHERINE W.'. "Hey, Sara, this is Catherine. Go ahead and go upstairs. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Alright, Jim. See you in a few." She walked into the elevator, pressed the "2" button, and watched Jim as he walked outside. The door closed and began its ascent to the second floor. As she stood in the elevator alone she thought, '_I hope to God that's Gil's going to make it though this…he _has_ to…I coul- can't live without him…_'

_TBC _

_See? I don't break my promises._


	7. Chapter 7

_**Title: **Welcome Home_

_**Author:** Viggorrah _

_**Disclaimer: **If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the **hell **do you think I am? _

_**Summary: **Catherine talks to Jim and Jim talks to Grissom's mother..._

CHAPTER VII

Jim walked outside and flipped open his phone.

"Brass." He said.

_"Hey, Jim. How ya doing?"_ Catherine's voice came through the phone. He took a deep breath.

"I'm as well as can be expected I guess. But Sara's...she's really shaken up. She's waiting for any news on Gil."

_"I take it you haven't heard anything on his condition yet?"_

"He's listed as Very Critical. They're prepping him for surgery right now. I was going to flag down a surgeon to ask 'im what's happening in there." He heard Catherine sigh.

_"The sheriff said that Gil's probably wasn't going to make it…"_

"I almost have to agree with him. He's-" Jim paused to look around and took a deep breath to stop him from crying. "You should have _seen_ him, Cath..." He whispered into the phone. She looked out the window and closed her eyes, but a tear still slid down her cheek.

_"Greg, Nick, Warrick and I just leaving the Lab. We'll be there soon."_ Catherine said in a wobbly voice. Once she regained her emotions under control, she changed the subject. _"Have you contacted his mother?"_

"Not yet. I was going to call her after we got to the hospital, but I, uh, haven't had the chance to."

_"Oh, ok then. I'll let you go. I'll talk to you when we get to the hospital."_

"Alright. Bye." He ended the call and wiped his somewhat wet eyes on his sleeve. He then proceeded to call Grissom's mother's cell phone. The line rang a few times and was then answered.

_"Hello?"_

"Hi, this is Captain Jim Brass with the Las Vegas Police Department. I work with Mrs. Grissom's son. I can only guess you're her translator?"

_"Hello Mr. Brass. Yes, I am her translator, Sharon Johnson. Do you by chance know where Gil is? We were going to surprise him with a visit, but he's not at his townhouse."_

'_Oh great. This is even better. She's _here. _In Vegas. Trying to surprise Gil, too. God this is going to be harder than I thought it was going to be…_' Brass thought. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Where are you guys? Are you checked into in a hotel somewhere?" He asked her.

_"No, we're outside his townhouse. We've been waiting here since about three this morning. It was the only plane we could catch to be here today. She knows he works nights, so we were just going to wait here for him." _She answered him.

"Ok. I'll, uh, come pick you up and bring you to him." Brass felt bad about not telling Sharon what happened, but it would be better for Mrs. Grissom. If she passed out or something, he couldn't help her and he'd feel the wrath of Grissom later.

_"Oh, that would be great she says. We'll be waiting for you."_

"Alright, I'll be there soon. Bye." He heard a click and he closed his phone. Once he was inside his car, he paused for a second. "_Why_ did this have to happen? And to Gil of _all_ people…" He said to no one in particular. He sighed. Before leaving, he texted Sara to tell what was going on:

_i'm going to pick up griss' mom. rest of the team is on their way. b back soon._

He started his car and headed in the direction of Grissom's townhouse.

* * *

As Catherine got off the phone with Brass, she told the guys what he told her.

"Man. This sucks. Why did it have to be Grissom? Why couldn't it have been Ecklie…?" Greg whined.

"I'm right there with you, Greg. Grissom didn't deserve this." Nick agreed with Greg.

"It has nothing to do with 'deserving it' or not, Nick." Catherine countered.

"Arguing about it isn't going to change anything, y'know." Warrick said as he changed lanes. A solemn silence fell over the truck before Greg finally sighed.

"You're right. I'm sorry…t-this is just hard to accept." He apologized and looked down at his feet. "And what the sheriff said about Griss…that h-he wasn't going to…" He trailed off. Warrick nodded, but Catherine spoke.

"I know, Greg. We're all feeling like you are. The only thing we can do right now is be there for Sara and support her through this. All we can do for Grissom is pray for him…" She said. Another silence fell over the truck. In about fifteen minutes, they made it to the hospital. Warrick parked the midnight-blue Denali and the four CSIs entered the hospital's main lobby. They wandered over to the receptionist's desk.

"Where's the waiting room for someone in surgery?" Catherine asked her.

"Who's the person you are waiting for?" She asked.

"Gil Grissom."

"Oh. Go to the one on the second floor. It's off to your right as soon you as you get off the elevator."

"Thank you." Catherine, Warrick, Greg, and Nick made their way to the elevators and up to the second floor. When the door opened, they looked to the right and immediately saw Sara sitting by herself. They walked over to her and sat down around her.

"Where's Jim?" Nick asked her.

"He went to pick up Griss' mother." She answered while looking up at him. In was evident that she had been crying: her eyes were bloodshot and puffy. "I-I haven't seen any surgeons yet. I can only assume that means that they haven't taken him into surgery yet."

"You know what Griss would say about assuming, Sara." Greg said with a small smirk. That got a sad smile out of Sara.

"Yeah, I guess so." She said.

"Did Jim say _where_ he was going to pick his mother up?" Warrick asked. She shook her head.

"No. He just told me what he was doing," She sniffed and paused. "Not where he was going."

"I wonder where he was going then…" Nick pondered.

_TBC!_


	8. Chapter 8

**_Title: _**_Welcome Home_

**_Author:_**_ Viggorrah _

**_Disclaimer: _**_If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the **hell **do you think I am? _

**_Summary: _**_Grissom's mother finds out the news..._

CHAPTER VIII

It only took Jim about ten minutes to get to Grissom's townhouse. When he arrived, there was a white rental car sitting in the driveway with two women sitting in it. He parked, got out and strode up to the car. Mrs. Grissom was dozing off, but Sharon was wide awake. As soon as Jim got out of his car, she got out of their car.

"Hello, Ms Johnson." He greeted.

"Hello, Mr. Brass." She said while he shook her hand. "Should I get our suitcases?"

"Uh, no. You can go ahead and leave them here." He answered. '_Ugh, just get it over with already. It's not going to get any easier the longer I wait…_' He said to himself and loudly sighed. "I, uh, have some bad news for Mrs. Grissom." She looked at him with fear in her eyes.

"What do you mean? What happened?"

"Would you bring her out here, please?"

"Sure…" Sharon went over to Mrs. Grissom and shook her gently. She signed to her and Sharon answered her. Sharon helped Mrs. Grissom out of the car and over to Jim. They shook hands just as Sharon and Jim had.

"Hello, Mrs. Grissom. It's a pleasure to finally meet you." Jim said politely. He watched as Sharon signed what he had said. Mrs. Grissom signed something back.

"She says it's a pleasure also. What happened to Gil?"

"There was an incident at a crime scene he was working at…" He started as Sharon signed.

"What kind of incident? Is he alright?" Fear was becoming more and more prominent in their eyes by the second.

"He, uh…" He took a deep breath. '_Damn it…_' "Gil's been shot." Sharon looked at him with wide eyes and her hands covered her mouth. Slowly, she told Mrs. Grissom. He watched as her legs gave out from under her. She would have fallen to the concrete if he hadn't caught her. She started crying as soon as Sharon had finished telling her what Jim had said. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's get her to my car. Come on…Let's go." He and Sharon practically carried her to the passenger side of his car. He helped Sharon into her seat before he got in himself.

"Who did this to him?" Sharon asked Jim.

"We don't know who he is yet. He's also in the hospital, though." He answered. When she gave him a confused look, he continued. "Gil shot him in the shoulder after the assailant shot him the last time." Sharon told Mrs. Grissom.

"The _last_ time? Is Gil…?" Sharon couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. Jim quickly shook his head.

"No, no!" Jim paused to start the car and started their journey to the hospital. "But, Gil's been wounded pretty severely. He was shot three times." He added quietly. He deliberately left out the part when he had stopped breathing. After Sharon finished, Mrs. Grissom closed her eyes, but tears still found their way down her cheek. "When I left the hospital, they were prepping him for surgery." Mrs. Grissom nodded and all three of them were quiet for the rest of the trip. When they did arrive, he got out and went to the passenger's side. Jim and Sharon helped Mrs. Grissom out of her seat and into the hospital. They caught an elevator up to the second floor. He led them to where the team was waiting and they looked up at them as threesome approached.

"Mrs. Grissom, Sharon, this is Warrick Brown, Nick Stokes, Catherine Willows, Greg Sanders, and Sara Sidle. Guys, this is Griss' mother and her interpreter, Sharon Johnson." Jim said as he pointed everyone out. "They make up the Nightshift team that Gil works with." They all greeted her with small smiles and waves. Jim and Sharon sat Mrs. Grissom down and then sat down themselves. "Have you guys heard anything?"

"Not really. They took to him to surgery a couple of minutes ago. The surgeons blew right by us, man. We barely registered that they were going by; never mind trying to ask them anything." Warrick said to both him and Sharon. They all fell into an uncomfortable silence as they endured the worst part of surgery: waiting for the results.

* * *

Sara jerked awake and looked around. She was lying down on the small couch in the waiting area. Last she remembered, she had fallen asleep with her head resting on Nick's shoulder. Sara glanced around and saw only Mrs. Grissom and Sharon in the room with her. They looked at Sara and after a moment, smiled.

"Are you ok? You're sweating. What were you dreaming about?" Sharon asked Sara.

"Uh, yeah, I'm ok. I was, uh, thinking about Gil. And what's happened…" She answered.

"You call him by his first name? You don't call him by his last name like the others do?" Sharon asked.

"Yeah, I _do_, but I'm just... he and I; we're..." Sara didn't know how to express her thought, but Sharon seemed to get her point and nodded.

"It's ok; I understand. You're closer to him than they are."

"Yeah, basically. All of us are really close, though. Gil and I are 'together'…going out, dating; however you want to put it." Sara said with a shrug. "How long was I out?"

"About two hours; give or take a couple of minutes. They haven't said anything to us yet. I would have to guess he's still in surgery."

"Oh, ok. Where's everyone else?"

"They went to the cafeteria for coffee and snacks." She said with a smirk.

"Oh, ok. I'm going to go wash up in the restroom. I'll be right back." Sara told her. Sara got up from her chair and made her way down the hall to the restroom. She went inside, stood in front of the sink, and splashed her face with some cold water. She looked into the mirror at herself. Her eyes were red and her eyeliner was running down her face. '_Man, I'm a wreck. I look horrible. Oh, damn. My clothes are still covered in-' _She had to breathe slowly to stop herself from crying again. Her thoughts were interrupted by Catherine walking into the restroom. "Hey."

"Hey, Sara. Me and the guys brought coffee for everyone. Greg broke the snack machine, so we couldn't get any snacks." She said.

"Great. Thanks…You, uh, wouldn't by chance have any spare clothes anywhere, would you?" Catherine looked Sara over and winced.

"Is all that…?" She asked Sara. Sara looked back at the mirror.

"Yeah. I-It's his…"

"I, uh, I'm pretty sure I have some in my truck…" Catherine sighed. "Let me go get them for you. You go out and get some coffee." Sara nodded. They walked outside to find the guys, Sharon and Mrs. Grissom all drinking coffee. Sara grabbed a Styrofoam cup and began drinking the coffee. It wasn't Greg's finest, but it was better than the sludge they called coffee at the lab. Catherine was already on her way downstairs. Sara noticed that Jim had changed clothes already. About four minutes later, Catherine returned and motioned for Sara to follow her to the bathroom. Once in there, Catherine gave Sara the clothes in a duffle bag.

"Thanks, Cath."

"No problem, Sara. Go ahead and put the clothes you have on in the evidence bag in there after you change. Someone'll process them later. Just bring the bag out to me and I'll put it in the truck later."

"Alright." Sara watched as Catherine walked out the bathroom door. She went into the handicapped stall and changed her clothes. Within five minutes, she was back outside with everyone in fresh clothes. They continued to wait in uncomfortable silence.

_TBC_


	9. Chapter 9

_**Title: **Welcome Home_

_**Author:** Viggorrah _

_**Disclaimer: **If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the **hell **do you think I am? _

_**Summary: **Finally, some results from the surgeon...but are they good or bad? _

CHAPTER IX

Everyone was getting antsy. They were getting tired of waiting for the results of Grissom's surgery, but refused to leave the waiting area. It was at least another two hours before a female surgeon came into the waiting room.

"Anyone for a…Gilbert Grissom?" She asked. Everyone, except Mrs. Grissom, stood up.

"Yeah. That would be us. I'm Jim Brass." Jim said he extended his hand. She shook it and continued.

"I'm Doctor Wilson. I'm the leading surgeon that performed surgery on Mr. Grissom." Everyone nodded as their greeting. "There are two ways I can give you the results: the 'here's-the-facts' method or the 'beat-around-the-bush' method. Which one do you guys want?"

"Give it to us straight, Doc." Jim said without hesitation. The CSIs nodded while Sharon signed. Doctor Wilson nodded and continued.

"Ok, do you want the good news or the bad news first?"

"Good news." Sharon said for Mrs. Grissom.

"First off, let me assure you, Mr. Grissom made it through his surgery." The whole room seemed to sigh with relief. "Both bullets were successfully removed from his shoulder and below his ribcage. One bullet embedded itself in a major artery in his shoulder; that's why he was bleeding so profusely. The other one didn't hit anything vital, but it added to the blood loss. He also needed a few blood transfusions. As you may or may not know, the last bullet punctured his left lung and as a result, it collapsed. We didn't have to remove this bullet; it was a straight through-and-through. It entered through his chest, continued through his lung, and exited through his back relatively near his spinal cord. He also sustained multiple minor cuts and bruises to various areas of his body." Everyone had mental pictures of the surgeon's description running in their heads; the CSIs' and Jim's were the most vivid. Sara's tears started to fall down her cheeks again. Jim glanced over at Sharon and Mrs. Grissom, who were trying their best not to start crying. This was, after all, the first time they had actually heard the extent of his injuries.

"What's the bad news?" Sharon asked.

"Mr. Grissom may well be alive, but he's no where out of the woods yet. He's fallen into a coma. We don't know if he'll wake up or not. Unfortunately, the other surgeons don't think he will. Things like this are highly unpredictable and totally up to the patient. He's currently in ICU room number…" She checked her clipboard. "Two seventeen." By this time, Mrs. Grissom was already crying and everyone had sunk back down into their chairs. Sara had her head in her hands and Nick's hand was on her back for comfort. "He wasn't breathing when the paramedics got to him at the house. He stopped breathing again when we were prepping him for surgery and twice during the actual surgery. As of right now, he's still not breathing on his own, so he's hooked up to a ventilator." Doctor Wilson looked up at the ceiling as she reran through her thoughts. "Well, that's about it. Does anyone have questions?"

"Uh, yeah: was there any blood in his lung?" Jim asked. Doctor Wilson nodded.

"Yes, he did have blood collecting in his lung and a little ways up in his trachea. He actually regained semi-consciousness during the time before his surgery. He tried to say something, but only succeeded in coughing up blood and losing consciousness again. He flat lined a few minutes later. We drained everything out and patched his lung up."

"Can…we see him?" Sara asked. The surgeon gave them a half shrug.

"He's in an observing ICU room, so, yes, technically you can _see_ him, but you can't go into the room, no. Only nurses and doctors are allowed in there right now."

"That's fine; she just wants to see her son…" Sharon said while still comforting Mrs. Grissom.

"Certainly. Right this way." The surgeon walked off and was followed by the Criminalists, Jim and Sharon, who were supporting Mrs. Grissom. As they approached the room, they all braced themselves for what they were about to see. But when they walked in, their eyes grew large at the sight before them.

* * *

Grissom was covered from the waist down by blankets. The left side of his chest had a bandage on it, his right shoulder had a bandage on it, and his upper abdomen had a bandage on it. (There was also a bandage on his back, but they couldn't see it) Each one had a red spot on it. His skin was ghostly pale. Wires were connected to him everywhere; there was no rhyme or reason to them. There was a light blue tube stuck grotesquely down his throat that was connected to a ventilator. The only indication that he was actually alive was the slow rise and fall of his chest and the constant, yet slow, beep of the heartbeat monitor.

"This is Brass all over again…" Catherine whispered. Jim hadn't heard her; he was helping Sharon get Mrs. Grissom into the room. Once they had successfully gotten her to his room, she looked through the glass at her son. For a couple minutes, she just stood there and observed him. Brass looked at the others in the room. They were all trying not to cry, but there were a few stray tears on some of their cheeks. By this time, sobs racked Sara's body. Nick was standing beside her and pulling her into a hug. Catherine was crying into Warrick's shoulder. Greg was leaning against a wall, quietly staring at Grissom. A doctor came in and introduced himself.

"I'm Doctor Gibson and I'll be taking care of Mr. Grissom. Are there any questions any of you have?" They all acknowledged him, but stayed quiet. "No? We need to run some tests right now. Ok, I'm sorry, but for right now, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. You can come back one or two at a time in a couple of hours. I'll let you know when you can come back in." They silently filed out of the room and went back to the waiting room. They sat there in silence for the longest time; probably close to three hours. They all went in and out of sleep, fighting the fatigue overcoming their bodies. Occasionally, someone would go to the restroom, but no one said anything. Out of the blue, Jim stood and made his way to the receptionist's desk. They gave each other confused looks, but they weren't interested enough to ask him.

"Oh, hello. What can I do for you?"

"Hi. There was a guy with a gunshot wound in his shoulder that came in around the same time my friend, Gil Grissom, did. Could you tell me where he is? I don't know his name." He told her.

"Let me check the computer." She answered. Jim glanced back over to the area from where he came; Warrick and Greg were watching him intently. "There's a Thomas Lloyd with the same injury listed here. The wound wasn't life threatening, but he did need a blood transfusion. He's currently stable and in room four-oh-seven."

"Thanks." He said as he made his way back to elevators. He caught one and rode it to the fourth floor. He stepped off of the elevator and went in search of room 407. When he found it, he went inside to find a man in a bed with a large bandage over his left shoulder. He was awake and was able to speak.

"Uh, hi. Who is you?" he asked.

"I'm Jim Brass of the Las Vegas Police Department." Jim replied. He watched Thomas like he was under a microscope.

"Oh. Are you that guy's friend or somethin'?" he asked cautiously. He could tell Jim wasn't up here out of the goodness of his heart.

"If you're referring to the guy you shot three times, then yeah, I am his friend." He answered hotly.

"I told 'im what happened. I told 'im I killed Tony. It was a accident, though. Oh, damn. I forgot to tell 'im th-"

"Whoa, whoa, wait. Hang on." Jim interrupted. Thomas took a deep breath. Jim obviously made Thomas nervous. He was talking so fast, Jim could barely keep up with him. "Talk slower."

"Oh, sorry. Anyways, yur friend knows what happened there. Why is you up here bothering me when you can be asking 'im?"

"He's in a coma. He couldn't tell me anything even if he wanted to." Jim didn't think it was possible to get any paler than he was, but he was wrong.

"C-coma?"

"Yeah. One of your bullets went through his left lung. He stopped breathing about four times from the time the paramedics got him out of the house to the time he got out of his surgery." Jim smirked. "I'm gonna get you on the murder of this Tony kid and the _attempted_ murder of my buddy downstairs. If he dies, though, that's _two_ murders on you."

"B-but…"

"You just focus on healing for right now. You can tell me what you told him when we meet again. And don't you worry; we'll be seeing a lot more of each other later. Trust me." Jim said as he left the terror-stricken Thomas in his room.

_TBC_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Title: **Welcome Home_

_**Author:** Viggorrah _

_**Disclaimer: **If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the **hell **do you think I am? _

_**Summary: **Thomas' sentence is said by the team...and it's not particularly in his favor._

CHAPTER X

When Jim joined the rest of the group in the waiting room, they, of course, asked him where he went. He was, after all, gone for fifteen minutes. Mrs. Grissom was sleeping beside Sharon. She moved to wake her up, but he shook his head.

"Don't wake her up." he told her.

"O-ok."

"I paid a Mr. Thomas Lloyd a visit. He's the halfwit who shot Gil." Jim answered them with a glare he didn't realize he was giving.

"He's alive?" Sara asked, obviously disgusted.

"Yeah, he's fine. He'll live." He answered.

"Sucks for him." Warrick said with an evil smirk. Sharon gave him a confused look. Nick cleared it up for her.

"We can safely say that he murdered that kid at the house." He said.

"Not to mention we're gonna nail him for _attempted_ murder." Catherine added.

"He'll get twenty-five to life easily." Greg finished with a smile.

"Oh, ok." Sharon said. She smiled at them. It was their turn to give the confused look. "You guys really do make a good team. I know why Gil speaks so highly of you now."

"We're the way we are because we take after him. He's a mentor to all of us; one way or another. He's the…'father figure' of the team." Sara said. The others nodded. Then they saw Dr. Gibson walk down the hall and into the waiting room. They looked at him expectantly.

"We're done with the tests on him. You're welcome to go in two at a time. But no more than two." He told them. Just as fast as he walked in, he walked back out. They looked around and silently debated who was going in first. Once they had decided, they nodded in the general direction of Grissom's room to Sharon. Sharon woke Mrs. Grissom up and they went to Grissom's room. Over the next five hours, they all took turns going in and staying with him. Warrick, Catherine, Nick, Sara, Jim and Greg all had to get back to the lab to work on the cases. They left Mrs. Grissom and Sharon at the hospital. They promised they would be back to check on everything as soon as they got the chance. They said their goodbyes and parted.

_TBC_

_A/N: Sorry. Yet another short chapter. /Sighs/ The next one will be longer. Promise._


	11. Chapter 11

_**Title: **Welcome Home_

_**Author:** Viggorrah _

_**Disclaimer: **If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the **hell **do you think I am? _

_**Summary: **Progress is good..._

CHAPTER XI

Within the next week, the doctors were saying that Grissom's wounds were healing very well. He hadn't come out of the coma, but the fact that his wounds were healing was a good sign. Grissom's face had regained a little of its color, but he still looked pale. Thomas had been discharged from the hospital and was immediately transported to LVPD so he could be questioned. He confessed to murdering Tony Talbot and shooting Grissom when he was being interrogated by Warrick, Catherine, and Jim. Sara spent most of her time at the hospital with Sharon and Mrs. Grissom and around the seventh day, Dr. Gibson walked into the waiting room.

"I have a bit of good news for you." He told them. All their attention was turned on him. "Mr. Grissom no longer needs to be hooked up to a ventilator. He has started to breathe on his own."

"Thanks Doc!" Sharon said. Mrs. Grissom nodded and smiled. "Mrs. Grissom gives her thanks, too."

"Oh, don't thank me. It's all Mr. Grissom. He's a real fighter. The other doctors still don't think so, but I, personally, think that he'll wake up from his coma." He smiled to reinforce his sincerity. For the first time, he watched as all three of them smiled broadly at him. Dr. Gibson then took his leave, as he had other patients to tend to. Sara stood up and took out her cell.

"I'm going to call the guys at the lab. They'll want to know what the doctor said about Gil." She told Sharon. She nodded and watched Sara walk to the floor's outside area. She decided to call Catherine.

_"Willows."_

"Hey, Cath."

_"Oh, Sara! Hey. What's going on?"_

"Doctor Gibson came to us and gave us an update on Griss."

_"Oh. How is he? Did anything happen to him?"_ Catherine was becoming slightly uneasy.

"He's started to breathe on his own now. He doesn't need the ventilator anymore."

_"That's great!"_

"Yeah. He also said that he thinks Griss will come out of the coma. The other doctors don't think so, but he does."

_"That's great news, Sara. I'll tell the guys when I see them."_

"Where are you now?"

_"I'm just about to pull into the lab's parking lot."_

"Oh, ok. Tell the guys I said hi."

_"I will. Some of them might be on their way up there. I'm not positively sure, though."_

"When will you be up here again?"

_"I'm not sure. It depends what we have to work on up here. I haven't seen the assignment slips yet."_

"Oh, ok. Well, I'll be up there soon, I guess."

_"Sara, Sharon and Griss' mother know you better than anyone else here. They'll probably feel more comfortable with you up there with them than me or Warrick or any of the other guys."_ Sara was dumbfounded. She and Catherine weren't necessarily friends, but it seemed like Catherine was saying that she didn't have to work as much while Grissom was in the hospital. _"The guys and I are fully capable of taking care of things down here. I think Gil would want you up there with him anyway."_

"Thanks, Cath. You have no idea how much that means to me."

_"You're welcome, Sara. I'm about to walk into the lab. I'll pass the news on to the guys and I'll talk to you later."_

"Alright. Bye."

_"Bye."_ Sara closed her phone and went back inside to Sharon and Mrs. Grissom. She sat down with them and made small conversion with Sharon. All three of them soon dozed off into a must-needed sleep.

_TBC _

_Sorry...shortness. _


	12. Chapter 12

_**Title: **Welcome Home_

_**Author:** Viggorrah _

_**Disclaimer: **If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the **hell **do you think I am? _

_**Summary: **If I summarized this chapter, I would be telling. And you would be cheating. _

CHAPTER XII

Three days later, Dr. Gibson was going into Grissom's room to do his routine checkup on his wounds. He walked into the room and spoke to him as if he were awake and able to respond.

"Well, hello Mr. Grissom." He referred to the chart in his hand. "We seem to be getting better and better by the day I see. I'm just going change your bandages for right now." He moved over to his bedside and started with his shoulder wound. He lifted the bandage and observed the circular wound beneath it. Replacing the bandage with a fresh one, he moved to Grissom's chest. He repeated the process and called in a nurse to help him change the one in his back.

"Thanks." He said to the nurse when they had finished. The nurse nodded and went back into the hallway to resume what he was doing. "Alrighty, then. One more to go." He removed the bandage from Grissom's abdomen and stopped when he heard a voice whisper something.

"That h-hurts…" it said.

He looked up at Grissom. His eyes were still closed and he hadn't moved. Dr. Gibson shrugged it off and resumed working. '_I _am_ pretty tired…I haven't slept in God knows how long…and when was the last time I ate anything substantial? Yesterday? I should go eat something before I pass ou-'_

"Damn it…! I said that hurt, you moron…!" the voice growled; it had grown stronger now. This time when he looked up, Grissom's face was contorted in pain and anger and his head had moved over. Soon afterwards, his eyes opened and closed multiple times to get adjusted to the high-lit room. He slowly turned his head and focused his somewhat angry blue eyes on Dr. Gibson.

"Well, well, well. It's sure nice to have you back in the land of the living, Mr. Grissom. Your mother and friends will be ecstatic when I tell them the news." Dr. Gibson smiled as Grissom slowly closed his eyes and fell back asleep. He then gave a sheepish grin. "I know it hurts you, but I've got to change your bandage. You don't want a dirty bandage on your wound, do you?" He changed the bandage in succession (without waking Grissom again) and proceeded to go to the waiting room. He found not three, but four people sitting in there. Greg had joined Sara, Sharon, and Mrs. Grissom. He strolled into the room to wake them up. He cleared his throat to get the attention, but no one stirred. He smirked in amusement.

"Excuse me, guys. I think I have some news you might want to hear." As soon as he finished, three heads shot up out of the light doze they were in. Sharon woke up Mrs. Grissom and told her what Dr. Gibson had said. She became alert also.

"What's the news?" Sara and Greg practically asked at the same time.

"When I was changing Mr. Grissom's bandages just a minute ago, I was, unknowingly to him probably, cussed out. It wasn't necessarily vulgar, but it wasn't nesessarily subtle either..." He smiled at their confused, yet annoyed, faces. "The pain I caused was apparently enough to bring him out of his coma. He was only awake for a few seconds and I doubt if he'll remember it at all. But he's awake, that's for sure." He watched as their faces lit up with joy.

"He's going to be ok?" Sara asked, although it was more of a statement. He gave her a reassuring smile.

"Yes, he'll be just fine."

_TBC! _

_A/N: I'm sorry!!! Another short chapter. The next one will be longer! Thanks to all of you who are reading and reviewing! I **REALLY** appreciate it! I'll keep writing if you keep reviewing! (Please...I'm going to keep writing anyway but reviews will make the chapters come out faster!) _


	13. Chapter 13

**_Title: _**_Welcome Home_

**_Author:_**_ Viggorrah _

**_Disclaimer: _**_If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the **hell **do you think I am? _

**_Summary: _**_(Yay! I can summarize this chapter!) The good news branches out to the other half of the team._

CHAPTER XIII

Jim Brass was on his way to meet Warrick, Catherine and Nick for breakfast. They had just completed another case and were going to do the only thing they could think of: grab a bite to eat. He parked and walked into the diner. Nick waved him over and he made his way over to them.

"Hey Jim." Warrick said.

"Hey guys. Did you order yet? And where's Catherine?" Jim answered while he sat down.

"Naw, not yet. We were waiting on you. Cath decided to go visit Griss at the hospital. She hadn't heard from Sara today, so she said she was just going to go ahead and go up there." Nick said. Jim shrugged.

"I guess I need to make my way back up there also. I haven't been since yesterday. What about you guys?"

"Yeah pretty much the same for me." Warrick said.

"Me too. Ecklie's been giving us every case that's come in. I haven't had a chance to going up there; he's been keeping me occupied." Nick said.

"Yeah, I know. Me too." Jim agreed.

"I guess this is revenge." Warrick directed at Nick.

"Yeah, probably so." Nick nodded.

"Revenge? For what?" Jim asked, intrigued.

"The second we heard what had happened to Griss, we wanted to leave the lab. Ecklie didn't want us to, so we had a…'silent standoff' of glares, if you will." Jim smiled.

"And let me guess: you guys won?" Jim asked with a smirk.

"Yeah, we did. The sheriff gave the cases we were working on to Dayshift. They all had to pull doubles because of us. I'm pretty sure he's going to have a grudge against us for a while." Jim shrugged.

"Hell, I'd be pissed too." All three of them laughed. "Well, anyway…onto the menu. What's good here?"

"Their omelets are good from what I hear from Greg." Nick answered.

"I guess I'll get an omelet then." Jim's phone started to vibrate in his pocket. He took it out and looked at the caller ID: GREG S. "Huh, well, speaking of Greg…" They smirked as he answered his phone. "Brass."

_"Hey Jim! Guess what?"_ Jim sighed. He really didn't want to play a round of 'Guess What?' at the moment, but he played along anyway.

"What Greg?" he said as Warrick and Nick exchanged amused looks.

_"Griss is awake! He woke up from the coma!"_ Jim sat up so fast; you would have thought there was a pin in his back. Warrick and Nick just stared at him in confusion and curiosity.

"Really? When? How?" Jim asked Greg.

_"The doctor was changing his bandages about ten minutes ago. When he got to Griss' last bandage, Griss woke up 'cause of the pain he caused. He kinda cussed the doc out, but he probably didn't know it. He was only awake for a couple of seconds before he fell asleep again, but he's out of the coma. Weird way to wake up, but it's all the same if you ask me."_

"Wow! That's great news Greg! I'll be sure to pass it on. You guys seen Catherine?"

_"No, but we called her. She had just dropped off Lindsey and was on her way up here. She should be here relatively soon, actually. Are you coming up here, too?"_

"Yeah. Warrick, Nick, and I are at breakfast. We'll be up there as soon as we're done."

_"Alright. See ya then."_

"Bye." He closed his phone and smiled broadly at the confused look he was getting from both CSIs. "He's awake. Gil woke up." Their faces lit up as he told them what he had heard.

"He's going to be ok?" Nick asked.

"Yeah. You'll get a kick out of how he woke up though."

"Oh, really? Why?" Warrick asked eagerly.

"The Doc was changing his bandages out and Gil woke up from the pain he was causing. He didn't necessarily like that and he cussed his doctor out." Jim said with a chuckle. The other two laughed as well.

"Well, that's Grissom for you." Nick said.

"Yeah, it sure is." Warrick agreed. The server arrived and they placed their orders. They made small talk between then and when their food arrived. "Let's hurry up and eat so we can get to the hospital." Jim and Nick both nodded and they all started to devour their omelets.

* * *

The first thing Grissom felt when he woke up again was a throbbing pain. The pain wasn't in one particular area; it was _everywhere_. He opened his eyes, but only closed them again because of the lights in the room. '_Damn hospitals with their damn bright lights…_' he growled to himself. His sight became less and less blurry as he opened and closed his eyes. Once he had successfully gained his sight, he looked around his room he was in. He saw someone sleeping in a chair beside his bed; it was Sara. 

"Sa-ra…" His voice was still hoarse and scratchy; he hadn't used it in a while. She heard him just the same, though. She woke up and, in an instant, was up next to him. She smiled her gap-toothed smile.

"Hey, Gil!" She said to him happily. "I'm so glad you're awake." He smiled sleepily at her. "You want some water?" He nodded and she grabbed a Styrofoam cup with water in it and let him drink from it. When he was done, she put the cup back down.

"Thanks." He said.

"How're you feeling?" Grissom moved his right arm which, in turn, shot pain through his shoulder. He gritted his teeth and groaned quietly.

"Sore," He took a deep breath. "And tired." He hadn't noticed, but a nurse had gone and gotten the entire group, who were basically forming a mob outside the door anyway, to bring them into front part of the ICU room.

"Well, that's to be expected, Gil." Sara smiled down at him and nodded her head in the general direction of the group. "There, uh, are some people that have been dying to talk to you." She told him as he finished yawning.

"Who?" He slowly turned his head to the left and looked through the glass. The other members of his team, Jim, Sharon, and his mother were all watching him through the glass. He slowly raised his left hand in a half-wave and smiled. "Hey…" He watched as everyone smiled broadly at him. The guys gave high-fives and hugs to each other. Catherine and Sharon each had a hand on Mrs. Grissom's shoulder, who was shedding tears of joy. Catherine and Sharon had a few stray tears of their own. He gazed back at Sara and saw her crying, too. "What's wrong, Sara?"

"I'm just so happy you're back with us, Griss. That's all." She answered. He felt tiredness creeping back on him, so he closed his eyes a little.

"Nice to know... I was missed..." Before everyone knew it, he had fallen asleep again.

_TBC!_


	14. Chapter 14

_**Title:**__ Welcome Home_

_**Author:**__ Viggorrah_

_**Disclaimer: **__If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the __**hell **__do you think I am? _

_**Summary: **__Grissom's mother talks to him for the first time._

_A/N: Anything in-between slashes _\Like this\ _are people signing to each other. (Ex: Grissom and his mother)_

_I updated this chapter for CSI-CoolBeans!! Thanks for the idea!! _:P

CHAPTER XIV

A couple hours later, Sara was still sitting by Grissom's bed. She had been there since he had woken up earlier and didn't intend to leave him alone. '_When he wakes up again, I don't want him to be alone. I don't want to leave him alone. I won't leave him...I've been away from him too long..._' She heard a noise that brought her out of her thoughts. The door was open and Sharon and his mother were walking in.

"Hey Sara." Sharon whispered. She didn't want to wake him.

"Hey Sharon. Hello, Mrs. Grissom." She replied. Mrs. Grissom nodded when Sharon finished signing.

"Has he woken up since earlier?" Sara shook her head.

"No, he hasn't. I was just sitting here and waiting until he does."

"Oh, okay. Well, she wants to be here when he wakes up also. I need to go get some clothes from our suitcases at his townhouse. I already gave her a pad and a pen if she needs to talk to you."

"Alright. We'll see you when you get back." Sharon nodded and led Mrs. Grissom to another chair. Sharon pulled it to the other side of Grissom's bed and Mrs. Grissom sat down. She watched Sharon leave down the hall and then looked back to Grissom. He was still sleeping peacefully. The two women sat in silence for a few minutes before Sara realized Mrs. Grissom had started writing something on the pad.

So, how are you? Sara smiled and did something that surprised Mrs. Grissom: she starting signing.

\I've been okay, I guess.\ Mrs. Grissom put the pad and pen aside.

\Where did you learn how to sign?\ She asked.

\Gil taught me.\ Sara glanced toward Grissom, who had quietly changed the position of his legs. \I don't know everything, but I know enough to get by.\ Mrs. Grissom nodded. \How have you been doing lately?\

\I'm doing a lot better. Now that I know Gil's going to be okay, I'm doing great.\ She answered.

\Yeah, me too. I'm so glad he's going to pull through.\

\I was so afraid when Mr. Brass told us what had happened.\

\Where were you two?\

\We were outside his townhouse; we had come to Vegas for a surprise visit.\

\Oh...I bet you weren't planning on spending your entire time here in the hospital.\ Mrs. Grissom smirked.

\No, we're weren't necessarily planning on it.\ She paused for a second before asking a question. \Mr. Brass didn't tell us how Gil was hurt. Do you know?\

\Yes, I know. I was...there when it happened.\ Sara took a deep breath. \He and I were working at the crime scene together. We were ready to leave; we just needed to grab all our stuff and put it in Gil's truck. He told me to put my stuff up first and gave me his keys. After a few minutes outside, I thought I would go back to help him with his things because he was taking a rather long time. When I went back inside is when I knew something was wrong..\

\Is that when he was..?\

\No, the two of them fought first and during the struggle, he was shot.\ Sara's eyes started to sting from the new tears that started forming and she shook her head vigorously. \I should have never left him in that house by himself.\

\Don't blame yourself, Sara.\ Sara continued to watch her with glassy eyes. \It doesn't matter what went on between those two, this is in no way your fault.\ Sara gave her a confused look.

\But, I was breaking protocol-\ Mrs. Grissom shook her head.

\Gil told you to go outside; he told you to leave him in the house alone.\ Sara was quiet for a moment while she wiped her eyes with her forearm.

\I still feel responsible.\

\He doesn't blame you.\ Sara's eyes bulged slightly.

\How do you know?\

\I know; he would never pin something like this on you.\ Mrs. Grissom observed Sara for a few minutes to make sure she was going to settle down. Once she knew she was alright, she changed the subject. \Have you had something to eat today, Sara?\

\Not yet.\

\Why don't you go get yourself something to eat? I'll stay here with him.\ After some slight hesistation, she nodded.

\Okay. Do you want me to get you something?\

\No, I'm fine; thanks.\ Sara got up from her chair, went over to Grissom's bedside, and caressed his lightly bearded cheek. She just observed him for the longest time before she bent down and kissed him on his forehead. Sara looked back to Grissom's mother.

\I'll be back soon.\ She nodded as Sara walked past her and out the door.

* * *

About forty-five minutes after Sara left, Grissom stirred. When he opened his eyes, he saw his mother sitting in a chair beside his bed. He got his mother's attention as soon as he first moved and she smiled broadly. 

\Hey, Gil.\

\Hey.\ He signed. Although his shoulder was sore and protested him signing, he just ignored it. \Where is everyone else?\

\Sharon went to get us a change of clothes, Sara went to get something to eat, and everyone else is at work, I suppose.\

\Oh, ok.\ He tried to sit up and winced at the pain that shot through his body. She put her hand on his chest and gently pushed him back into the bed.

\Easy, easy Gil. Lay back down.\ She watched her son suffer from the immense pain and wished she could do something to help him. \I'm pretty sure your...wounds...wouldn't appreciate you moving too much.\ Grissom had tightly closed his eyes until the pain subsided enough for him to easily bear.

\Yeah, I guess not…\ He breathed in deeply and let it out slowly.

\I guess I should call the doctor in here since you're awake.\ She signed; he nodded and she pressed the call button. \He should be here soon.\

\Alright. Why are you and Sharon in Vegas?\ He asked.

\We were just here to give you a surprise visit.\

\Some surprise, huh?\ Grissom smiled slightly. \Did Jim give you the keys to my townhouse?\

\Yes, he gave them to Sharon. I haven't been there, though. I've been up here with you the whole time.\ He nodded and glanced towards the door. She turned around and watched Dr. Gibson as he strolled into the room.

"Hello, Mr. Grissom. I'm Doctor Gibson. I've been taking care of you since you got here." Grissom nodded.

"Hello, Doctor Gibson."

"I'm glad to see you're awake. I haven't been in here to check on you since..." He gave a smile. "I woke you up the first time."

"Yeah…I'm sorry about that." Grissom said with a sheepish grin.

"You remember that?" He asked, truly surprised.

"Yes, I do; I didn't mean anything I said."

"It's alright, Mr. Gr-"

"Call me Gil, Doc."

"Only if you agree to call me Derrick."

"Deal." Grissom said with a smirk.

"I didn't expect you to remember that, Gil. It's rare that people remember things like that." Grissom yawned and Derrick shrugged. "Well, anyway, while you were in the coma, your wounds began to heal very well." He began. "Your shoulder and chest have healed more than your abdomen. The bullet that was lodged down there brought hell to the surrounding muscle of the entry point and it's going to take that muscle a while to heal fully." Mrs. Grissom got her son's attention.

\I didn't catch everything he said.\ Mrs. Grissom signed to Gil.

\My wounds healed well when I was in the coma. The bullet that was lodged in my abdomen really screwed up the muscle surrounding the entry point. I can sure as hell feel it. The other two have healed faster than that one.\ She stared at him for a while and he read her thoughts loud and clear. "Hey, Doc- Derrick? Would you mind stepping outside for a minute? I need to talk to my mother."

"Yeah, sure. No problem. I'll be right outside the door. Just call me when you're done." They watched him walk out of the room and close the door.

\What's wrong?\ He asked.

\I...\ She paused. \I just don't understand how you can talk about your wounds so...nonchalantly.\ He smirked.

\I'm ok, mom; I really am. I know this whole ordeal must have... scared you bu-\ She shook her head.

\You gave me a heart attack, Gil!\ She interrupted him; his gaze softened. Her eyes started to tear. \I thought I was going to lose you...\

* * *

Dr. Gibson rode the elevator down from the 6th level of the hospital. He had been called away by another one of his patients for about an hour. Derrick didn't like leaving Grissom like that, but the nurse said it was urgent. He was just getting back to the floor Grissom was on. He headed towards the nurses station as soon as he got off the elevator. 

"Has Mr. Grissom called for me at all?" The nurse shook her head.

"No. He's been relatively quiet since you left. No one's come out and no one's gone in."

"Ok. Thanks." He walked to ICU room two seventeen and knocked on the door. He slowly and quietly opened it and peered in.

From what he could tell, Mrs. Grissom had been crying and Gil had been comforting her. Mrs. Grissom had climbed up on his bed and her head was on his chest. He was resting his head on top of hers and had his arms wrapped around her. They were both fast asleep. He smiled at them and closed the door.

_TBC! _

_A/N: Thanks again to all of you who are reading and reviewing!_ _/Smiles/ I hope you all are still enjoying this story! I think I'm going to wrap it up in a few chapters... I don't know yet, but once I decide I'll let you guys know!_


	15. Chapter 15

_**Title: **Welcome Home_

_**Author:** Viggorrah _

_**Disclaimer: **If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the **hell **do you think I am? _

_**Summary: **Grissom and the rest of the team all have legitimate reasons for not liking Ecklie. This is Grissom's._

CHAPTER XV

Over the next ninenty-six hours, Grissom went in and out of sleep. Whenever he did wake up, everyone was there in groups. Sara and his mother were usually always in there, but the others fluctuated. The undersheriff visited him once, but it was a short visit as Grissom fell back off to sleep while he was talking. While he was somewhat angry and annoyed with him, he decided to let it slide. Ecklie also stopped by, but it was less of a pleasant visit than the undersheriff's...

* * *

Sara saw Conrad Ecklie as she was walking in the hallway down from Grissom's room. From what she could tell, he didn't necessarily want to be at the hospital. He fell instep with her as she passed by.

"Hey, Sara, would you happen to know where Gil's room is?" he asked, but then he scoffed. "What am I saying? Ofcourse you do." She ignored the impulse to tell him off. To her, his presence seemed more like a forced visit rather than one out of pure concern. Well, concern at all. 'Why _are you here? No one wants you here. I doubt if Gil does…No, I _know _he doesn't want you here…_' she said to herself. She sighed.

"Yeah, it's over this way. The doctors are saying he's making great progress. They should be moving him up to a normal room sometime today." He merely grunted as he followed her through the corridor. Once they arrived, he walked directly to Grissom's bedside even though he was asleep.

"Well, I need to talk to him about something Catherine did as the sub-supervisor, so…" he left the sentence open, hoping she would get the picture. She got the picture, but she didn't like it.

"You're not going to wake him up for something like that are you? Ecklie, Griss needs his rest. I think whatever she did can wait." He smiled smugly at her. She frowned.

"That's just the thing I would expect _you _to say, Sara."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean, Ecklie?" Sara said hotly and crossed her arms across her chest. She was tired of his stupid and utterly annoying remarks about her and Grissom.

"Do you think I'm blind Sara? I see what's going on between you and Gil here." He motioned to the sleeping Grissom. "I know you two are…involved."

"You can't stay out of other people's business, can you? Grissom isn't going to like you meddling in his personal business. You might want to mind your own damn business before he finds out."

"Grissom's personal business is the business of the Las Vegas Crime Lab if it involves another one of its employees, Sara." Sara was about to retort, but had second thoughts as she saw Grissom glaring very darkly at Ecklie.

"What the hell do you want, Ecklie?" he growled. Ecklie turned around and faced him. Sara was surprised at Grissom's tone; it was almost…out of character for him.

"Oh, Gil. I was just coming to inform you about something Catherine did as the Graveyard Shift sub-superviso-"

"Yeah? Well, I'll ask her about it later." He cut him off. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with Ecklie at the moment. He had woken him up and he wasn't exactly thrilled about it. "Now if you'd be so kind as to leave… I'm tired and I want to get back to sleep." Grissom finished. Sara could tell when it was best to intervene and when it was best not to. This was one of the times where it was best _not_ to intervene.

"Sleep? I would have thought you wanted to stay awake. Y'know…to take advantage of having some time alone with Sara…" Ecklie said smugly. Grissom's glare just darkened and got more and more dangerous by the second. To Sara's complete surprise, Grissom sat up on his own and stared Ecklie down.

"What the hell is your problem, Ecklie? What do you have against me? And Sara?" Grissom smirked darkly. "Or are you just jealous of what she and I have? Even if we are 'involved' as you speculate, we're friends first of all. Got any of those?" Sara was dumbfounded. Why was Grissom being like this? Ecklie was just as surprised at Grissom's behavior as Sara was.

"That was uncalled for, Gil." was all he could manage to get out. Grissom just smiled.

"So was you coming up here and bothering me with issues about the lab when I was shot three times not two weeks ago. I'm still healing and still in a lot of pain, y'know. Catherine's a good CSI. If she has a problem, you let _her_ come to me and tell me about it _herself_." Grissom growled. Sara noticed that Catherine and Jim had appeared in the outside part of the room. They looked at her in utter surprise at Grissom's behavior also.

"_What in the hell is wrong with him?_" Catherine mouthed to Sara.

"_I dunno. He's..._" She gave a confused shrugged. "_I really don't know._" They all continued to watch the scene as it unfolded.

"Gil, the lab-"

"Conrad, what do you think I can possibly do about anything at the lab right now in my current condition?" Grissom smirked again. "Between you and me, Conrad, I don't give a rat's ass about what's happening up at the lab right now. I could _really_ care less."

" 'Not care what's happening at the lab' Gil? That's the last thing I would expect to hear from you."

"You try getting shot three times and end up in a coma for a week and a half. See if you care about what's happening up at the lab or not."

"Look, Gil. I came up here t-"

"That was your first mistake…" Grissom muttered. Ecklie sighed.

"Gil…"

"Conrad, I told you: I'm tired. And_ very _irritable. My abdomen's starting to throb again and that means the morphine's rubbing off. Would you please leave?" Ecklie was about to retort when Grissom turned to look at him again. Their eyes locked and Ecklie froze in his spot. He watched as an inferno danced around in Grissom's eyes. He noticed that Grissom's left hand was balled into a tight fist. Ecklie was actually afraid that if Grissom hadn't been in the pain that he was in that he would have probably punched him (or something worse). He just left without a word and ran into Catherine and Jim.

"Man, what the hell'd you do to piss him off?" Jim asked him mock-sincerely. Ecklie glared at him. Jim just smiled. "Grissom's glare was better."

"Control your boss or he'll find himself looking for another job."

"Stay away from him and we won't have to." Catherine said. Jim just smiled; he was thoroughly enjoying himself.

"Making empty threats doesn't scare him. Or us for that matter." When Ecklie looked at him, he continued. "You can't afford to fire Grissom, Ecklie. You know that. And so does he. How many forensic entomologists do you know?" Ecklie gave them his infamous 'death glare'. Catherine and Jim both matched his glare as he stalked out of the room.

_TBC_

_A/N: Just so you know, I don't like Ecklie. No, I hate Ecklie. With a passion. And the undersheriff and sheriff. The undersheriff was an ass in Redrum. So was Keppler. The sheriff's just a political moron._


	16. Chapter 16

_**Title: **Welcome Home _

_**Author:** Viggorrah _

_**Disclaimer: **If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the **hell **do you think I am? _

_**Summary: **Sara cools Grissom off after the argument with Ecklie. _

_A/N: Sorry about the delay in updating! School and everything else that could have possibly happened...happened. Tests came out of nowhere. It sucked. /Sighs/ As of right now, I'm supposed to be doing homework. As you can tell, I'm not. I find writing FanFiction much more interesting than answering interview questions. Well, anyway here's the sixteenth chapter! (It's the longest chapter yet!) Hope you enjoy!_

CHAPTER XVI

Warrick, Nick and Greg made their way to the elevator on the first floor. They caught an elevator relatively quickly and rode it to the second floor. When the door opened, they stepped off and headed towards Grissom's room. As they got to the door to his room, Ecklie practically ran into Warrick.

"Hey, whoa. Where's the fire?" he asked Ecklie. Ecklie just ignored him and headed towards the elevators. The three of them exchanged 'What the hell?' looks and continued into the room. "Hey, Cath. Jim."

"Hey guys." Jim answered.

"What was wrong with Ecklie? Well, what _else _was wrong with Ecklie?" Greg asked.

"Yeah. He blew by us like someone trying to kill him." Nick said.

"That was Grissom's fault. He got mad at him. I mean _seriously _pissed off." Jim said.

"Yeah and he sat up, too." Catherine said. Warrick, Nick, and Greg apparently didn't get the significance of her statement so Jim continued.

"He sat up on his own. Without the bed or anybody's help. He was _that _mad." At that moment, their eyes grew large and they looked towards the bed. Grissom was still sitting up, but the bed was supporting his back this time. Sara was sitting on his bed and had her hand resting on his injured shoulder. He didn't seem to notice, though. He looked as he was trying to burning a hole in the wall in front of him. His hand was still balled into a fist, but it wasn't as tight as before. To everyone except them, he seemed have settled down from the encounter with Ecklie. They, however, knew him better: Grissom was seething. He was so mad he didn't know what to do.

"Have you guys talked to him at all?" Warrick asked. Jim and Catherine shook their heads.

"Well, what do we do? Should we go talk to him or something?" Greg asked.

"I don't know, Greg. He's still mad. I don't know if he wants anyone in there with him."

"But Sara's in there.." Greg protested.

"That's why she's in there Greg. She's _Sara_. She's probably the only one he wants, and will allow, in there right now." Jim said.

"The best thing we can do now is probably leave them alone." Nick said. Warrick and Catherine nodded. Greg sighed and walked towards the door. The other four followed and left Grissom and Sara alone.

* * *

Sara noticed Warrick, Nick, Greg, Catherine, and Jim talking on the other side of the glass window. She also noticed when they left her with Grissom by herself. She was relieved that they didn't come in to talk to him. Sara was pretty sure he didn't want to talk to anybody, even if they were his own friends. She glanced over at him. He hadn't moved since she had brought the bed up to support him. He was still staring at the exact same spot on the wall. She knew he was mad; she just didn't know what she could do to help him. They had only been 'together' for about seven months, but she had known him for much longer and she had _never_ seen him this mad before. Sara didn't even know what set him off. When he's around Ecklie, yes, he does get annoyed and somewhat angry. But he had never gotten _that _mad in that _short_ of a timeframe. She decided to try to get him to talk to her. He might not want to, but it was worth a shot anyway.

"Grissom? Griss?" He didn't move; he didn't even acknowledge that he had heard her. She tried again. "Gil?" He turned to look at her with a 'Huh?' look. "I was calling you. Didn't you hear?" His expression changed to one of confusion.

"No, I didn't. Sorry." he said. He averted his gaze back to the wall. "I was...thinking."

"About what?" His eyes narrowed and he frowned.

"Ecklie. And how much of an ass he is. I don't know what he has against me. Against us." She nodded.

"Me neither. That's what made you mad, right?"

"I was beyond mad, Sara." He shook his head. "I don't remember a time when I was _ever_ that pissed off."

"In the whole time that I've known you, I've never seen you get that mad either. But you had a legitimate reason." She said. "So, how do you feel?" He shrugged.

"I'm alright. My abdomen still hurts, but the morphine's kicking in."

"Are you getting tired yet?" He turned and graced her with a smile.

"No. I'm fine." Grissom pulled her head down to lay on his right shoulder and put his right arm around her shoulders. He leaned down and captured her lips in a kiss. It was long and passionate. Both of them were very active participants. When Grissom's lips finally parted from hers, they smiled at each other.

"It's been a while since we've gotten to do that." Sara said.

"Yeah. I missed you every night while I was gone. I'm glad I'm back though." She stopped smiling and looked away.

"During this whole...ordeal, I couldn't help but think what I would do without you. The sabbatical was hard enough. But permanently? I don't think I could bear it." When he didn't say anything, she continued. "When I found you bleeding on the floor in that house, I-I seriously thought I was going to lose you. And when you stopped breathing, I..." Sara looked back towards him and saw his confused, but surprised expression.

"I stopped breathing?" He asked incredulously. "When?"

"You passed out when Jim and I put the bandages on your wounds. We continued to wait for the paramedics to get there. We kept the bandages in place until...I didn't feel your chest moving anymore. You stopped a few seconds before they got to us. Jim started CPR, but you weren't responding. " Her eyes started to water. "When you finally got to the hospital and out of surgery, the surgeon said you had stopped breathing a total of four times between the time when they got to you and the end of the surgery." The tears were falling one after the other. His hold on her tightened.

"I'm sorry I left you in a predicament like that, Sara. I wish I could have helped you and Jim..." He trailed off. She turned and looked at him through her teary, but somewhat angry, eyes.

"Grissom, a guy shot you three times. You couldn't do much of anything else except stay conscience." Sara's anger faded away. Her gaze softened and she continued to cry. "I'm surprised how long you stayed awake, though." They stayed silent for the longest time after she finished. Grissom just continued to hold Sara while she cried. About thirty minutes of silence passed by before Grissom noticed that she had fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder. Someone knocked on the door and opened it. Dr. Gibson strolled in and stopped a few feet from Grissom's bedside.

"Hey, Gil."

"Hey, Derrick." Grissom said. Sara remained asleep.

"How are you doing today?" Grissom shrugged.

"I had a beef earlier with a guy from work, but besides that, I'm doing fine."

"What happened?"

"He was just being a prick."

"Oh, trust me. I know some of those people. Was he your boss?"

"He's the assistant director of the lab, so technically, yeah, he is." Derrick started laughing and then shrugged.

"Unfortunately, we all have to deal with those few specific people that think they're better than us. Problem is they're the only ones that think that."

"Yeah, I agree. These confrontations between him and me seem to be happening _way_ too often." Derrick laughed again.

"Well, I initially came in here to say that you've healed exceptionally well since you woke up. We would have moved you to a normal room earlier, but they were all taken. There's one open now, so I was going to move you up there. Is that alright with you?" Grissom nodded.

"Yeah. That would be great. Any idea when I'll be getting out of here?"

"Hmm...I'm not sure. Maybe in two to three days. I'll let you know when I make up my mind, though."

"Ok. Thanks." Derrick motioned with his head to Sara.

"What are you going to do with her?"

"I was going to let her sleep. I don't necessarily want to wake her up if I don't have to. She hasn't slept much lately."

"Oh, ok. That's fine. Just make sure she's on the bed fully when they start moving you, or else she'll fall off." Grissom nodded. "I'll send in someone to come take you upstairs. As for me, I have to go check on my other patients. I'll talk to you later, Gil."

"Alright. See you later, Derrick." Grissom watched Derrick leave his room. He then averted his attention back to Sara. She was still sleeping and her head hadn't moved from its position on his shoulder. He gently moved her legs on to the bed and laid them next to his legs. He made sure he didn't wake her and then got comfortable himself. After a few minutes of waiting, a male nurse named Sergio came in.

"Are you ready Mr. Grissom?"

"Yes." The nurse proceeded to go behind Grissom's bed and released the brake. Grissom made sure he had a secure hold on Sara when the bed started moving. He pushed the bed out of the door and to the elevator with the bigger door. They caught one and rode it all the way up to the sixth floor. Sergio pushed the bed out of the elevator and to the right down the hall. The trio went down to Room 609 and the nurse pushed them inside. He situated Grissom's bed in its place and locked the brake.

"Thanks, Mr. Sergio."

"It's my pleasure, Mr. Grissom." Sergio responded as he left. Grissom checked on Sara again. She was still asleep; oblivious to the short journey they had just taken. He kissed her cheek, laid her head on top of his chest, and fell off into a comfortable sleep.

_TBC_

_A/N: As a continuation of last chapter, I also dislike FBI Agent Rick Culpepper. He's just a straight-up moron. In the episode 'Jackpot' (4th Season), the sheriff Grissom worked with was a cocky, stuck-up idiot. And his gay brother tried to kill Grissom with a shotgun, too. Just because Grissom's better than him (not to mention sexier _:D_) in every way possible doesn't mean he has the right to go and do that._


	17. Chapter 17

_**Title: **Welcome Home_

_**Author:** Viggorrah _

_**Disclaimer: **If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the **hell **do you think I am? _

_**Summary: **Grissom finally gets moved out of the ICU room and to a regular room. But when is he going to get discharged? _

_A/N: This chapter contains a spoiler if you haven't seen "Law of Gravity", so read at your own risk. Also, things between quotation marks and slashes are being signed and said at the same time._

_"\Like this. Ok? Ok! Now on with the chapter!\" _

CHAPTER XVII

Sharon and Mrs. Grissom were walking towards Gil's room when they realized that he was no longer in there. The spot where his bed was occupying was empty. They were obviously confused by this and immediately went to the receptionist's desk. The receptionist greeted them with a smile. (Like they're paid to do. ;P)

"Hello, ma'am. How can I help you?"

"Hello. I'm looking for her son. He was in room two seventeen and he's not there anymore. Do you, by chance, know where he is?"

"I'm not sure, but I can look in the computer for you. What's his name?"

"Gil Grissom." Sharon and Mrs. Grissom watched as she typed in his name and waited for the results. Once they popped up, she stared intently at them for a minute before turning back to them.

"His doctor, Derrick Gibson, moved him off of this floor. He's now in a regular room on the sixth floor. Room six-oh-nine. It's off to your right as you get off the elevators."

"Ok, thank you." Sharon then proceeded to take Mrs. Grissom to the elevators.

\Where are we going? Where's Gil?\ Mrs. Grissom asked.

\They moved him to a regular room earlier. He's in room 609 on the sixth floor now.\ Mrs. Grissom nodded. The elevator bell went off and they moved to board the elevator only to run into Greg.

"Oh, hey! How's Griss doing?" He asked. Greg didn't necessarily feel comfortable calling him 'Gil', so he just stuck with what he usually calls him. Sharon continued to push her way into the elevator with Mrs. Grissom. Greg got out of the way and moved to the side with a questioning look on his face.

"He's no longer on this floor. Doctor Gibson moved him to a regular room earlier." Sharon said as she pushed the '6' button on the panel. "He's in room six-oh-nine now." Greg nodded.

"Oh, ok. That's great! Do you know if the doctor said anything about when he's going to be discharged?" Sharon shook her head.

"No, I haven't actually talked to his doctor. The receptionist told me."

"Oh." The elevator stopped ascending and the bell went off. The door opened and all three of them exited. Then veered off to the right and followed hallway until they got to room 609. Greg opened the door and stuck his head inside. Grissom was lying with his arm around Sara on his bed. The bed had been lowered down some to make sleeping on it easier. Sara was still asleep, but Grissom was awake and staring off into space; lost in his own thoughts. When the door opened, though, he turned his head and his gaze toward them.

"Hey guys." Grissom said as he smiled at them.

\Hey, Gil. How are you feeling?\ His mother asked.

\I'm alright. Still a little sore, but it's nothing I can't handle.\ He responded.

"So how ya doing, Griss?" Greg asked.

"I'm doing better, Greg. How are things up at the lab?" Grissom asked. Greg shrugged nonchalantly.

"Well, mostly everything's like it was while you were on your sabbatical: dead and boring. It really wasn't any fun with you not there. Ecklie's walking around to see if we're screwing up and the undersheriff's pretty much doing the same thing. We miss you. I'll even go on a ledge and say we miss Keppler." Grissom smirked.

\Who is Keppler?\ His mother inquired.

\Michael Keppler was my replacement while I was on my sabbatical. He didn't act as the supervisor, though. I put Catherine in charge. He was shot and killed the night I returned to Vegas, though...\ Grissom felt movement on his bed and turned to see Sara waking up. She opened her eyes and smiled when they met blue ones.

"Hey, Gil." He gave her that boyish grin that he only saved for her.

"Hey Sara!" Greg said with a huge grin. Sara smiled at him.

"Hey, Greg. How're you doing?"

"I'm good! How about you?" She yawned and stretched.

"That's the longest I've slept in a while." She looked around and gave Grissom a confused look. "This isn't your room."

"It is now. Doctor Gibson came in earlier and moved me to a regular room." She smiled broadly.

"That's great! Did he say when you're going to get discharged?"

"He hadn't decided yet. He said in two or three days, though."

"Well, look on the bright side: at least it'll be soon!" Greg said.

"Yeah. You have no idea how much I would _love _to get out of here. This bed is becoming my own personal prison cell." The four of them, even his mother, all laughed at his comment. He, however, didn't find it humorous. "Hey, I'm serious. I feel like I'm on bed-arrest."

\You'll be out of here soon enough, Gil. Just be patient.\ When Sharon had told Greg and Sara what Mrs. Grissom had said, they laughed again.

"\You don't know what it feels like to be in a hospital bed for this long, though.\" he countered.

\Gil, you have to remember: I _am _your mother. I've had my share of hospital beds.\

"\There's no way I can win this debate, is there?\" He sighed.

"I think I can help you with that." Everyone looked in the voice's general direction and found Derrick leaning against the doorframe.

"Oh, really? And how is that?" Grissom asked.

"I rechecked your chart and the progress you've made. You'll be happy to know that I've decided discharge you within thirty-six hours." Derrick responded. The whole room seemed to radiate with happiness.

"Wow! You just got moved to a regular room and now you're getting discharged!" Greg exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Grissom said with a wide grin.

"Thanks, Derrick!" Sara said.

"You are quite welcome."

_TBC_

_A/N: I'm sorry I keep falling behind on my updating. But, hey, I'm trying! It's after 1 a.m. right now and I'm uploading this chapter! I'm sorry again people! Anyway, please review my story! I appreciate those who are reviewing!!! THANKS!!! _:D


	18. Chapter 18

_**Title: **Welcome Home_

_**Author:** Viggorrah _

_**Disclaimer: **If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the **hell **do you think I am? _

_**Summary: **Grissom gets discharged! Yay! _

CHAPTER XVIII

Grissom had been getting himself ready to leave the hospital as soon as Doctor Gibson had told him that he was going to be discharged. He stretched and yawned. Grissom's shoulder and chest wounds really didn't give him any problems anymore. They only hurt on occasion. The abdomen wound was a different story. The muscles that were surrounding the entry point of the bullet hadn't fully healed and were still very tender. It _was _a .45 caliber bullet, after all. It left a pretty large hole. He was still getting used to his abdomen hurting every time he made even the slightest movement. Everyone had left a while ago, leaving him alone in his room. Sara, Sharon, and his mother had all retreated to his townhouse. Sara said she was going to grab him some clothes and do a couple of other things before coming back to pick him up. It wasn't the first time since it had happened in the hospital, but Grissom was bored. He had been solving crossword puzzles everyday and he even finished the book Sara had brought him. Now he was debating on what he was going to do until she came back. Luckily for him, his thoughts were interrupted as the door opened and revealed a tired-looking Warrick.

"Hey, Griss."

"Hey." Grissom looked him over. Warrick's shoulders were slouched and he had dark circles under his eyes. "When was the last time you slept, Warrick?"

"I slept last night." Warrick answered with a confused look. "Why?"

"You must have had one hell of a day then." Warrick nodded.

"Yeah. Everyone had their evaluations today."

"Oh..." Grissom was afraid of the answer to his next question, but he decided to ask it anyway. "Who conducted the evaluations?"

"The one and only Conrad Ecklie." Grissom winced.

"That sounds stressful. I'm sorry I wasn't there to conduct them myself."

"Hey, we'll be fine. We'll get over the emotional trauma eventually." Warrick laughed as he helped himself to a chair while Grissom slowly sat up in the middle of his bed. "So, I've heard a rumor that you're going to be outta here soon." Grissom smiled and nodded.

"Yeah...I haven't talked to anyone, though, so I have no clue _exactly _when that's going to happen."

"Where'd Sara go?"

"She went back to my townhouse to get a change of clothes for me. She also had to do a couple of other things to do that she didn't elaborate on."

"Oh, Tina does that all the time. She's probably just getting ready for you to come home." Just then, someone knocked on the door and stuck their head inside. Warrick and Grissom thought it would have been a nurse or a doctor, but it was Nick. Jim was following behind him.

"Hey, Nicky. Hey, Jim." Grissom said while waving them inside. "Come on in."

"Hey, Griss!" Nick said enthusiastically.

"Hey, Gil. How ya doing today?" Jim asked. Grissom shrugged.

"I'm alright. I want to get out of here. I'm _supposed _to be getting discharged sometime today, but I haven't talked to Derrick. Or anyone else for that matter…"

"That sucks." Nick said. Grissom nodded.

"I heard you guys had your evaluations today." Nick's demeanor decreased significantly.

"Yeah...Man, Ecklie can be such an ass!" They all laughed.

"Yeah, he sure can. What did he do this time?" Grissom asked.

"He brought up your skills as our supervisor again." Warrick narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah. He brought that crap up with me, too."

"What the hel-...he's not going to let up is he?" Grissom frowned. "What did he say?"

"He was asking if there had been anything going on between you and Sara." Nick sighed. "He also asked if it was affecting the rest of us, the rest of the team, as you _are_ our supervisor."

"Asshole..." Jim and Warrick said in unison.

"I'm going to clear that up when I get back to work." Warrick, Nick, and Jim all looked toward Grissom. He had lain down on the bed, had his hands behind his head, and was staring at a particular spot on the ceiling. "Sara and I have been together for a while now. We haven't caused any problems. We haven't caused any scenes. We haven't screwed up anything while working together at a crime scene. We never have and we never will compromise a case just because we have a relationship."

"And that numbskull can't seem to retain that." Jim said.

"Hell, _he_ didn't even know until you and him had that beef a couple of days ago." Warrick added.

"True enough..." Grissom sighed. "Even so; the sheriff needs to know before things get out of hand. Never mind going to Ecklie; we're going straight to the sheriff. Sure, Ecklie may be my immediate boss, but he doesn't need to know everything."

"I'm right with ya there, Griss." Nick agreed.

"Yeah, me too." Jim said. "The sheriff may be a little high on your personal 'List', but he's the one you need to go to with this." Warrick nodded.

"Although you're going to be butting heads with those morons down at the lab for a while, we're glad you guys finally got together." Warrick said. Grissom glanced down over his chest and smiled at Warrick, Nick, and Jim.

"Thanks, guys."

* * *

Derrick hadn't forgotten about discharging Grissom. He had actually just gotten back to the hospital. He had just finished a meeting that his boss had said was mandatory. All of the hospital execs were there and the lead doctors of each floor had to attend. The worst part was that it had been short notice. He had just heard about it that morning. He went to his locker and grabbed the materials he needed. He walked out of the locker room and down the hall to the elevators. The bell went off, the door opened, and he was greeted by an excited-looking Sara. She was carrying a small, blue and white Adidas duffel bag on her shoulder.

"Hi, Derrick!" she said excitedly.

"Hey, Sara. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing much better. It's amazing what a couple hours of sleep can do for your energy level."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Derrick said as the door closed. "I would have given Gil the discharge papers he needs to sign earlier, but my boss made me go to a meeting this morning. It was short notice and I initially wasn't going to go, but he said it was mandatory." Derrick sighed. Sara shook her head.

"It's ok. It actually gave me time to get everything ready at the house."

"Oh, ok." The elevator stopped ascending and the door opened. "Well, I have to go get the papers and his medicine. I'll meet you in his room in a few minutes."

"Alright. See you then." They went their separate ways to do their separate tasks.

* * *

Sara looked through the little window in the door. Grissom appeared to be sleep with his legs bent at the knee. She couldn't really see as the blanket covering his legs was blocking her view. As soon as she opened the door, though, his eyes shot open and his legs went down. She walked deeper into his room and next to his bed.

"Hi, Gil!" She greeted. He smiled up at her.

"Hey." He yawned. "Sorry. I was lightly dozing..."

"Oh, really...?" Sara dropped the bag on the floor and leaned over the bed railing. She captured his lips in a brief, but invigorating kiss. She pulled back just enough to see his face. He had a huge grin on his face.

"Well, I'm awake now." She smiled back and nodded.

"Good. 'Cause you need to get dressed. Derrick went to get the discharge papers." Grissom sat up slowly and dangled his legs over the side of the bed.

"What clothes did you bring?" She turned back to the Adidas bag and unzipped it.

"I brought those sandals that you never wear, an old t-shirt, and black slacks. I didn't want to bring jeans because I thought they would aggravate your wound."

"I think jeans would have been ok." He moved the hospital gown around to reveal the wound in his side. "See? It's too high to be bothered by jeans." She stared at the halfly-healed wound and winced.

"That's going to leave a lovely scar, Griss."

"All four of them are." He shrugged and smirked. "It's not like I'm going nude anytime soon, Sara. They'll all be covered."

"Yeah, I guess so." She took out the slacks and the underwear from the Adidas bag and tossed them onto the bed next to Grissom. "Here. Put these on. I'm going to go check on what's happening with those papers." Sara turned towards the door.

"Hey, Sara?" She stopped and turned back around.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"You know you can stay in here while I change, right? I don't mind." Sara stared at Grissom, surprised. He had become _much_ bolder these last few months that they had been together. She was proud of him; there was no doubt about that. She got out of her thoughts and smiled at him.

"I know." He smiled back at her. "But I'm going to still go check on the discharge papers."

"Ok, that's fine. I just wanted you to know that." She proceeded to take her leave and closed the curtain around his bed. Grissom slowly and painfully stood up and took the gown off. Sara watched his shadow from the door for a second to make sure he was alright before closing the door. She walked down the hall and to the right until she spotted Doctor Gibson reading a report of some kind. Sara strolled over to him and waved.

"Hey, Derrick." He looked up from his report.

"Oh, Sara! I'm sorry. Here are the discharge papers. I got caught up with another patient of mine." Derrick handed her a small stack of papers. "Just have him sign where it says 'Patient Signature' and I'll be in there soon. I promise."

"Alright." Sara answered. "Do I have to sign anywhere? I mean, since I'm going to be taking him home and everything.." Derrick shook his head and smiled.

"No. Just him." She nodded and turned around to head back to Grissom's room. She rounded the corner and once again found herself at the threshold of Room 609. Sara opened the door and stepped inside. The curtain around Grissom's bed had been pulled back and he was sitting on the edge of his bed again. He had successfully gotten the bottom half of his body clothed, but still lacked the top half. She marveled at his body but grimaced at the gunshot wounds it harbored.

"What's wrong?" He shook his head.

"Nothing." He put his left hand over his lower wound. "It started to hurt down here again; a throbbing pain. I thought it would be healthy to not overwork myself, so I just sat back down."

"Good thinking." She held up the paper stack. "This is you ticket out of here. Derrick said to sign where ever it said 'Patient Signature'." Grissom took the papers and laid them on the bed. Sara took out a pen from the bag and gave it to him. He immediately began reading and signing the papers. Sara wasn't sure how many times he had actually signed his articulate signature as she was intently watching him. She just observed Grissom and took in his appearance: his adorably mussed hair, his somewhat hairy chin, and his twinkling blue eyes. He had his back turned to her a little, so she saw, for the first time, the wound in his back. She reached out and gently touched it. He averted his attention to her as soon as her fingers made contact. She thought he was going to tell her not to touch it, but he just smiled at her and went back to the papers. A couple of minutes later, Doctor Gibson walked in.

"Hey, Gil, have you finished yet?" He asked.

"Just about." Grissom turned to the last page and signed one last time. He restacked the papers and handed them to Derrick. "There you go." He scanned them quickly and then took a small, white paper bag out of his pocket.

"This is your painkiller. Take it once every twelve hours for the next week. After that, just take it when you feel you need to. I was going to make you wear a sling for your shoulder, but it seems to have healed more than I thought." Grissom nodded.

"The only one that really hurts is down in my abdomen. The other three don't bother me much."

"Yeah, _that _I can expect. It's going to take a little while for all those muscles to fully heal." He shook his head as if he were trying to get a nasty thought out of his mind. "Well, anyway! Let's get off of the melancholy-filled subjects. I'll go and grab a wheelchair for you." Grissom scratched the salt-and-pepper curls that rested on the back of his neck.

"Wheelchair? Is that really necessary...?" Sara looked at him in exasperation.

"Grissom, you can't exactly _walk_ out of here. Your wound'll see to that." Grissom's whole body drooped as he sighed. Sara turned back to Derrick, who was just smiling. "Thanks, Derrick. We'll be ready to go when you get back." With that Derrick walked back outside and left Grissom and Sara in the room.

"Would you hand me my shirt, Sara?" She grabbed the old, worn shirt out of the bag and gave it to Grissom. He slipped it on over his head and pulled it down over his pants. He looked at what the shirt read: 'Las Vegas Crime Lab' in yellow letters over the police insignia in the middle of the shirt. The shirts that he and everyone else wore to work had the text in white letters and the large insignia was on the back, not the front. This pattern went out of style in the lab about ten years ago. This was a _really_ old shirt. It was so...1990s. "Where exactly did you find this shirt?"

"It was in your closet." He gave her a 'You Know What I Mean' look.

"_Where_ in my closet?" She started to put his sandals on. She put his right sandal on first.

"It was in a box in the top of your closet. I cleaned out our closets while I was at home. I had nothing else to do." She slipped the other one on and looked at him. "Why?"

"This is just a really old shirt that I distinctly remember throwing out two months ago..."

"Oh, you _did _throw it out. I just retrieved it and put in up in your closet." Grissom smiled at her in confusion.

"And you did this _because_...?"

"I don't know. I thought it would make a nice keepsake. Y'know...to all your years working down at the lab." He shook his head, the smile never leaving his face.

"Sara, you truly are-"

"An enigma?" She cut him off. She smiled. "So are you." Grissom looked at her and then away.

"Can't argue with that..." He said under his breath. Sara smiled and put her hand behind her ear.

"What was that? I didn't quite hear you." The door reopened and Doctor Gibson came in with a wheelchair.

"You weren't meant to." He answered with a mischievous smile.

"Well, here's your ride to your ride, Gil." Derrick said with a laugh. "I've already signed you out and everything. All you have to do now is leave."

"Ok. Thanks, Derrick. For everything you've done." Grissom said while he slowly got up, moved himself over to the wheelchair, and sat down. Derrick nodded.

"Thank _you_ for being such a star patient, Gil."

"You're welcome, Derrick. You've made this hospital stay as enjoyable as it could be with four gunshot wounds." All three of them smiled and laughed.

"Well, I have to go to one of my other patients. I'll see you guys later." Grissom and Sara both waved as he left the room. Grissom turned towards Sara.

"Do we have everything?"

"No, I need to get your books and whatever else you have here." Sara walked around the room and gathered his books and the cards that the team had dropped off for him. She put them in the Adidas bag and placed the bag on Grissom's lap.

"Ok, _now _we're ready." He asked although it sounded more like a statement.

"Yup. Let's go." Sara pushed the wheelchair out of the room and down the hall to the elevators. They patiently waited for an elevator. Once one came, they boarded it and rode it five stories down. The door opened, they exited the elevator, and they went through the automatic sliding doors to get outside. "Alright, Griss. Stay here. I'm going to go get the truck." She started to walk off into in the parking lot.

"You say that like I'm going to be going somewhere." She turned back long enough for him to see the smirk on her face. He waited in that spot for a minute or so before he saw a midnight blue Denali with the Las Vegas Crime Lab decals on it pull up in front of him. Sara got out of the driver's side and came around to the passenger's side. She took the bag from Grissom and threw it in the backseat before opening the passenger door. She then pushed him closer to the truck and helped him get into the seat. Once she got him situated, she took the wheelchair back inside. A passing nurse saw her and offered to take it for her. Sara thanked her and walked back outside to the Denali. She climbed into the driver's side, closed the door, put the truck in drive, and they departed from the hospital.

_TBC_

_A/N: I am extremely sorry for taking so long to upload this chapter. __I had stupid TAKS testing to do last week__(Standardized testing sucks) a__nd a crap-load of homework this week. __(Homework just sucks period) __So, for that, I am terribly sorry. __I have been working on this chapter during school whenever I can and it still took a long time to finish. -.- __I've also been working on updating my website, so that probably had something to do with it, too.__For the third time again, I am _so_ sorry._


	19. Chapter 19

_**Title: **__Welcome Home_

_**Author:**__ Viggorrah _

_**Disclaimer: **__If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the __**hell **__do you think I am? Oh, and the song "Time of Dying" and the album "One-X" both belong to Three Days Grace. _

_**Summary: **__Grissom finally gets home._

_A/N: Sorry for the update delay. I was actually revising the earlier chapters, as you may or may not have noticed. I've only revised Chapters 1-7 as of right now because I thought it would be good to start Chapter 19. So, I was kind of doing both, but more revising than writing. /Points to self/ I multitask over here. Another thing: Chapter 19 turned out to be a _LOT_ longer than I though it was going to be. I hope you enjoy it, nonetheless!_

CHAPTER IXX

Grissom and Sara had left the hospital half an hour before and they still weren't home. There had been a nasty accident on the highway and they were stuck in traffic. She could tell he was bored; hell, she was bored, too. He had closed his eyes with his cheek resting on his fist and she was just staring straight ahead, watching the traffic NOT move. Sara was grateful when her phone started ringing. She took it out to look at the caller ID and smiled at who it was.

"Sidle." Sara answered into the receiver of her cell phone.

"_Hey, Sara!_" Came the voice from the other side. It was Catherine.

"Hey, Cath! What's up?"

"_Not much. What are you doing?_"

"I'm on my way home with Grissom." She glanced over at Grissom, who turned around to look at her when she answered her phone. He had that 'bored, yet disinterested' look on his face, though; his eyebrows were high up on his forehead and his eyelids were drooped a little. She thought it was adorable on him; Grissom looked just like a sleepy little boy. "But we're stuck in traffic…"

" 'Stuck in traffic'? Do you know how much of an understatement that is, Sara? You moved the truck into 'Neutral'. We've been in this _exact_ spot for three minutes." Grissom said. The clock in the dash of the Denali changed as soon as he finished. He frowned and sighed. "Four."

"_Sounds like Grissom's having loads of fun._" Catherine said in Sara's ear.

"Yeah, we both are. Did you call for a specific reason, or did you just want to check up on us?"

"_Oh, well, I was headed towards you guys, but you're not home yet…_"

"Oh. We'll hopefully be out of this soon. You can still stop by, if you want. We weren't going to do anything anyway…" She looked back over at Grissom, who was looking at her.

"What?" He asked her.

"We weren't planning on anything, right?"

"The only thing I'm planning to do is sleep. I can't do much of anything else except that and pee, anyway."

"_Whoa, somebody's cranky._" Catherine noted.

"My thoughts exactly." Sara responded.

"And which thoughts would those be?" Grissom asked.

"That you're cranky and grumpy." Sara said matter-of-factly. He held his hand out for her phone and she handed it over to him.

"You're not helping, Catherine." Grissom said into the phone with a smirk.

"_I know I'm not._" She responded. Grissom could tell she was smiling on the other end of the line. "_And hello to you, too._"

"Hi, Catherine. How are you doing?" Sara watched him and smiled.

"_I'm doing well. How 'bout yourself?_"

"I wish I could say the same, but I'm doing pretty well for a guy who's on Vicodin."

"Vicodin?_ Wow. That's some pretty serious stuff there, Gil._"

"You're telling me?" Sara noticed the car in front of them move forward. She put the truck in Drive and scooted the Denali up, inch by inch. "Wow, would ya look at that?"

"_What?_" Catherine inquired.

"We moved six inches."

"_Ugh! I hate when you're like this, Gil!_" She said with mock-sincerity.

"Like what, Cath?" He asked with mock-innocence. Sara could tell he was kidding; he had that mischievous smile on his face.

"_When I see you, I'm going to hit you._"

"Hitting an already injured man?" He turned towards Sara and winked at her. "That's got to be _some_ sort of misdemeanor…"

"_You're taking Vicodin, remember? You won't feel anything…_"

"That's cruel, Cath." He heard her laugh.

"_Hand me back over to Sara and I'll see you in a little while._" Catherine said while still laughing.

"Alright, Cath. See you soon." Grissom handed the phone back to Sara, leaned his seat back and slowly lay down.

"Tired?" Sara asked him. He looked at her.

"I told you Sara: all I can do is pee and sleep. And, since we're still _here_, I can't exactly take a leak in the back of the truck." Sara made a disgusted face. "_My_ thoughts exactly." He got as comfortable as he could in the seat. "Wake me up when we get home." With that, he put his left forearm over his eyes, his right over his stomach (and over his wound, Sara noticed), and lay still. '_Home. I like the sound of that._' Sara smiled at the thought.

"Alright, I'll wake you up." Sara continued her conversation with Catherine. "So, anyway…How's Lindsay?"

"_She's doing fine. She was devastated when she heard about what happened, though. She's still a little shaken up, but she's doing better._"

"Ok, that's good. Bring her over; we don't mind. I just don't think Grissom's going to be up for any other visitors right now."

"_Yeah, I agree._" Catherine paused. "_Hey, Sara, have you noticed that Gil's been a lot more…outgoing lately? Or is it just me?_"

"No, it's not just you, Cath. I've noticed, too. He's changed a lot over the past months since we've-"

"Would you women stop talking about me?" Grissom said without moving. Sara looked back at his face and gave him an evil smirk.

"You're in no position to be barking out orders, mister." He moved his arm to up to his forehead to glance at her.

"You wouldn't-"

"Try me." He stared at her for split second, was about to retort, but ended up falling quiet. He moved his arm back over his eyes. After ten more minutes of Sara talking to Catherine, miraculously, the traffic started to actually _flow_ again. "Well, Cath, it seems the traffic's moving now. I'll see you when we get home, I guess."

"_Ok, Sara. See you then._"

"Bye." Sara closed her phone and followed the car in front of them through traffic. Once they had passed the actual accident and all of the medical personnel, it was smooth sailing from then on. She quickly matched (if not exceeded) the speed limit at seventy. Grissom's hair was flying around in every direction (and so was hers) because she had rowed down the window. His was crazier, though; she had her hair up in a ponytail. Sara noticed Grissom's sandaled right foot was now on the seat with his knee resting on the door. His breathing had slowed while she had been on the phone with Catherine, meaning he had fallen asleep relatively quickly. Since he was sleep and she wasn't on the phone anymore, the truck had grown quiet. She tuned the radio to her favorite station. She had caught it just in time; the last part of what was about to be played came on.

"…by Three Days Grace on their 'One-X' album." The truck was then filled with the sound of two guitars playing together. Once Sara heard those first lines of this song, her thoughts trailed back to Grissom lying in that house…

* * *

_**On the ground I lay**_

_**Motionless, in pain**_

_**I can see my life flashing before my eyes**_

…_big blood stain on the wall directly behind Grissom…he was on his stomach facing away from her in a growing blood pool, unconscious…She saw one bullet hole in his back…. _

_**Dead I fall asleep**_

_**Is this all a dream**_

_**Wake me up, I'm living a nightmare**_

_His eye slipped shut and his body went limp. "No, no, no! Come on, Grissom, wake up!"_

_**I will not die (I will not die)**_

_**I will survive**_

"_First off, let me assure all of you, that Mr. Grissom made it through his surgery."_

_**I will not die, I'll wait here for you**_

_**I feel alive, when you're beside me**_

_**I will not die, I'll wait here for you**_

_**In my time of dying**_

"…_but he's no where out of the woods yet."_

_**On this bed I lay**_

_**Losing everything**_

_**I can see my life passing me by**_

"_He's fallen into a coma. We don't know if he'll wake up or not."_

_**Was it all too much**_

_**Or just not enough**_

_**Wake me up, I'm living a nightmare**_

_Grissom was covered from the waist down by blankets. The left side of his chest had a bandage on it, his right shoulder had a bandage on it, and his upper abdomen had a bandage on it. The only indication that he was actually alive was the slow rise and fall of his chest and the constant, yet slow, beep of the heartbeat monitor._

_**I will not die (I will not die)**_

_**I will survive**_

"_Mr. Grissom woke up from the coma… he's awake, that's for sure." _

_**I will not die, I'll wait here for you**_

_**I feel alive, when you're beside me**_

_**I will not die, I'll wait here for you**_

_**In my time of dying**_

"_What's wrong, Sara?"_

"_I'm just so happy you're back with us, Griss. That's all."_

"_Nice to know... I was missed..."_

_**I will not die, I'll wait here for you**_

_**I feel alive, when you're beside me**_

_**I will not die, I'll wait here for you**_

_**In my time of dying**_

_Grissom pulled her head down to lay on his right shoulder and put his right arm around her shoulders. He leaned down and captured her lips in a kiss. It was long and passionate. Both of them were very active participants. When Grissom's lips finally parted from hers, they smiled at each other._

_"It's been a while since we've gotten to do that."_

_**I will not die, I'll wait here for you**_

_**I feel alive, when you're beside me**_

_**I will not die, I'll wait here for you**_

_**In my time of dying**_

_"Ok, now we're ready." _

_"Yup…"_

* * *

Once the song was over, Sara turned off the radio. '_That's enough of the radio for right now…_' She realized she could see the house at that point. She drove up to it, pulled into the driveway, and put the Denali in 'Park'. She pulled the keys out of the ignition and took her seatbelt off.

"Hey, Grissom?" She reached over and slowly ran her fingers through his curly hair. "Gil, wake up; we're home." He exhaled loudly and moved his arm to reveal his eyes.

"Huh…what?" He asked groggily. He tried to sit up and caught his breath as he felt pain. "Ahh…" He blindly felt for the source of his pain and his fingers ran over his lowest wound. "Oh." His head hit the headrest and he looked at Sara with sleepy, azure eyes as if to say 'What now?'.

"Well…" She glanced towards the front door. "Hang on a sec. Let me see if I can get some help."

" 's not like I can move.." He muttered and closed his eyes. Sara opened her door and jogged up to the front door of the townhouse. She let herself in and ran straight into Jim Brass, who was eating a Granola bar.

"Jim!" She looked out through the door and then back at him, bewildered. "Where'd you come from?"

"Last time I checked, from my mother. How about you?" Sara borrowed that 'Not Amused' look Grissom gave Greg a lot to give to Jim. He took a bite out of his snack and continued. "Cath dropped me off earlier. Told me to call her when you guys got home. Had to go run some errands.." His brow scrunched up like he was confused and shook his head. "..or something."

"Where's _your_ car?" He shrugged.

"Shop. Kids slashed my tires. Wasn't happy with me taking their stuff as evidence." He looked behind her. "Where's Grissom?" Her memory clicked. '_Oh, right: Grissom._' She didn't let Jim in on what was going on inside her head, though.

"Since you're here, you can help me get Grissom." Jim finished his Granola bar and threw the wrapper into the nearest trashcan.

" 'Get Grissom'?" Where is he?" Sara turned on her heel and walked back out the door. Jim proceeded to follow her outside.

"In the truck."

"What? He can't get out?"

"No."

"And _why_ not?"

"Look, would you just come and help?" She said over her shoulder. When they finally came to the passenger side's door, Sara opened it and stuck her head inside. She let out an exasperated sigh; Grissom had fallen back asleep. He was in a lighter doze than before, though, because as soon as the door opened, his eyes shot back open. "I'm back."

"Hey." He replied. Jim's head appeared right behind Sara's. It was Grissom's turn to be confused. "Where'djou come from?"

"Why is everyone asking me that question today?"

"I dunno why do you popup ev'rywhere?" Sara could tell Grissom was still half-asleep; his speech was slurred and his voice was deeper than usual. She interrupted their conversation.

"Ok, guys." Jim and Grissom stopped talking long enough to hear her. "I'm not sure how we can get you in the house without hurting you, Griss."

"You prolly can't. Just do theleast painful way…"

"How about you sit up as far as you can and Jim _gently _helps you the rest of the way?" He shook his head vigorously.

"_Or_ we could try readjusting the seat and then taking him out.." He shrugged at Jim's suggestion.

"That too."

"Yeahsurewhynot…" Jim and Sara both looked at him. "Just do _something_..This seat's uncomfortable." Sara looked at Jim, who had cracked a smirk. They had really never thought he got tired or, even less, delirious.

"Let's go with the 'readjusting seat' method." Sara said.

"Yeah. Let's do that." Jim moved out from behind Sara and opened the Denali's back door behind the Grissom's seat. "I'll control the seat while you just hold the lever up." Sara pulled the lever and watched as Jim slowly let the seat readjust itself. Grissom just sat there, occasionally groaning or clenching his teeth. Once they finally got the seat all the way up, Jim let the seat go, closed the door and went back to Grissom's door. "Well, we've successfully routed and followed Objective One. What now, Navigator?" He asked Sara. She looked at Jim, then at Grissom, and back to Jim.

"Do you think you can carry him?" Jim looked at her with a lopsided smirk.

"_Me_ carry _him_ inside? You're kidding, right?" The smirk subsided when she slowly shook her head and Grissom moderately glared at him.

" 's not likeI've gained weight.." He said.

"How do you know that, Gil?" Jim countered.

"Hospital food." Sara and Grissom both answered, in unison, while staring at him. Between his sleepy blue eyes and her piercing brown ones, Jim couldn't refuse. (_And_ Grissom would kill him later if he left him in the truck.)

"Alright, fine. Where do I put him?"

"Couch, floor, table..dudn't matter." Grissom slurred followed by a yawn. Jim looked at Sara again, but the smirk he had earlier had grown into a full-blown smile. She couldn't stifle a smile either, but she hid it behind her hand.

"Just let him sleep on the couch for now." Jim proceeded to put his right arm under Grissom's legs and his left between Grissom's left arm and his body. Jim then lifted him out of the seat and out of the Denali. He quickly carried him up the small stairs, onto the porch, and into the house. Sara closed and locked up the truck before following them inside the house and closing the door. Jim, who was pretending rely on the couch for dear life, had already laid Grissom on the couch.

"Man, Gil, you _really_ need to lose some weight." Jim said sarcastically between fake breaths.

"Shutup, Jim…" Grissom murmured and fell off to sleep.

"Welcome home, Gil." That was the last thing he heard before he was engulfed by the inviting darkness.

_TBC_

_A/N: This is my first attempt at a songfic. I've had that song on my iPod for the longest time and I thought it went well with my story. Until now, though, I haven't had a place where I could insert it in without messing with the storyline. Tell me what you think of it! And thanks for the reviews everyone!_


	20. Chapter 20

**_Title: _**_Welcome Home_

**_Author:_**_ Viggorrah_

**_Disclaimer: _**_If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the **hell **do you think I am?__ And Aquaphor doesn't belong to me either. Why would I want my own ointment anyway? _

**_Summary: _**_The Grissom household starts to return to normal._

Chapter XX

Grissom, like he said he would, slept most of the time at home. Every twelve hours, though, Sara would have to gently wake him up. She gave him a glass of water and the medicine Derrick had prescribed to him. He would take it and he would fall off back to sleep, either because the Vicodin made him drowsy or just because he was tired. Every now and then, she would help him get to the bathroom. Sara had started to put ointments she had on Grissom's wounds to keep them lubricated and to help his abdominal wound heal faster and hurt less. As long as that one gave him fits, he was practically immobile, a state in which Gil Grissom hates to be in. Within the first twelve-hour interval, Grissom had made it off of the "oh-so-luxurious" couch to his and Sara's bedroom. As soon as he got to his room, he shed his shirt, his shoes and socks. Warrick had helped him move that time, though; Jim was nowhere to be found. At any given time, either Jim or Catherine was helping out Sara: going to the corner store, running errands...

* * *

Jim Brass walked through the automatic sliding doors of the convenient store. He wandered over to the aisle that contained the medicine and the nutrition supplements; right in front of the pharmacy. '_Okay,_ how_ did I get talked into doing this? Next time, Cath's going…'_ He flipped open his phone and dialed Sara's number. 

_"Sidle."_

"Yeah, Sara? It's me. What's this stuff called again?"

_"Aquaphor. A-q-u-a-p-h-o-r. Just ask someone where it is, Jim."_

"I'm not going to ask someone, Sara. I'm a homicide captain; I think I should be able to find it on my own."

_"Okay, fine, Mr. 'Captain'. I'll just see you when you get back. Just remember what it's called."_

"I'm not gonna forget. Sara. I'll cya when I get back."

_"Bye."_ He closed the phone and continued to walk down the aisle. After searching for the Aquaphor, he finally found it. He picked one of the containers up and examined it. '_These are some small containers; only fourteen ounces. I wonder if they carry any larger ones…_' Jim walked over to an employee of the store.

"Hi. Can I help you with something, sir?"

"Uh, yeah. Do you carry any larger containers of the Aquaphor ointment? Or is this all you have?"

"No, I'm sorry. That's all we carry. We don't sell any larger bottles."

"Okay, thanks." He went back over to the shelf and grabbed two of the containers. '_This should be enough…if need be, we can come back up here and get some more._' He made his way over to the check-out register and waited in line. Once he was close enough, he put the containers on the counter so the cashier would be able to scan them.

"Your total comes out to five eighty-seven, sir." The cashier told Jim. He paid the cashier, received the small bag she had put the Aquaphor into, and proceeded to walk out to his car.

* * *

Sara walked from the bathroom to her and Grissom's bed with the last of the Aquaphor she had left in a tube she had found in the medicine cabinet. She squeezed some ointment on her right pointer and middle finger. Grissom was lying on the right side of his body. His back was towards her and his slacks were sagging off his hips, showing the top of his dark blue boxers. His right arm was folded underneath his head as sort of a makeshift pillow. His other arm was wrapped around his stomach, his hand on top his wound. "_I wonder if he's aware that he covers his wound when he sleeps…_' She gently moved his hand out of the way and applied some of the ointment to Grissom's abdominal wound. Sara noticed that as soon as she touched him, his body relaxed and his legs extended out down the bed. She soon saw the blue of his eyes as they fluttered open. 

"It's me, Gil." She told him.

"Sara? What're you-?" He asked in a husky voice.

"I'm just putting an ointment on you called Aquaphor." She held the tube up for him to see. He took the tube and looked it over. "It should help heal your wound and alleviate some of the pain. It's not prescription, as you can tell, but I still think it'll help."

"Oh, okay." He turned over on his back so she would have better access to the wound. "This should make it easier for you." She nodded.

"Yeah, thanks." Sara continued to spread the ointment, watching as his abdomen involuntarily caved in occasionally. He had closed his eyes again, but she could tell he wasn't asleep. When she had used the rest of what was left in the tube, she closed it and went to the restroom to throw it away. As she returned, Sara watched Grissom stare at the ceiling and scratch his chin absent-mindedly. He noticed her staring at him almost immediately.

"What?" She walked back over to him and rubbed the general area in which he was scratching. He leaned his head into Sara's hand.

"You need to shave, Griss." He gazed up at her and grinned.

"Are you volunteering?" He was awake now.

"Sure! Why not?" She smiled back at him. "I'll admit, though, your beard almost looks like it did when you came back from your sabbatical."

"It's not like I've been able to tend to it lately.." He mumbled to himself. She sat on the edge of the bed, near his legs.

"So, it's been almost a week since you got out of the hospital, right?" He nodded.

"Yup. It's been nice not to have an IV needle constantly stuck in my arm. It wasn't that it hurt or anything; it was just a nagging feeling of it always being there." He rubbed his arm lightly and yawned. He decided to put the spotlight on her for a change. "So, how's work? I vaguely remember Catherine telling me she was acting as sub-supervisor again."

"It's fine. Cath is sub-supervisor again. When did she tell you?"

"Oh, I don't remember _when_ she told me." He answered with a smirk. "I was actually just trying to figure out if her telling me was a dream or if it was real. I couldn't tell at the time." Sara tried not to laugh and failed horribly.

"That's what happens when you're on Vicodin." He sighed but smiled at the same time.

"The void between my reality and fantasy closed significantly." Grissom stated. '_Fantasy?_' This peaked Sara's curiosity and she expressed it.

"What's _your_ fantasy, Grissom?" The question took him off-guard: his eyes were closed, but they shot open immediately after her question and looked at her.

"What?"

"What's your fantasy?" She repeated. He stared at her for a split-second before he recovered from the shock. Grissom just grinned at her. Sara took his grin as an invitation; she climbed up the bed further, continued past his chest, and brought her lips to his. It was light enough not to be too demanding, but strong enough to leave him wanting more. As she pulled back, she noticed Grissom's grin was wider than before.

"I'm not sure how it ends, but I'll be damned if that's not the way it starts."

_TBC_

_A/N: Kinda short... I just thought I should give you guys something to read while I continue to write the next chapter. So I hope you enjoyed it._


	21. Chapter 21

_**Title: **__Welcome Home_

_**Author: **__Viggorrah_

_**Disclaimer: **__If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the __**hell **__do you think I am?_

_**Summary: **__Sharon and Grissom's mother prepare to leave Las Vegas._

_A/N: Readers: I totally rewrote the part (the entire section in italics) of this chapter right after this first paragraph; now there's some implied...'stuff'...in there, so watch out._

Chapter XXI

After Grissom's last statement, he and Sara spent the rest of the day and the next day together. Things got intimate after the second day, though. Grissom had already had his shirt off, which was a step in the right direction. That was one less piece of clothing Sara had to remove. Unfortunately for Grissom, though, Sara was fully clothed. He had to do the most work by undressing her. Of course, he didn't mind; their clothes covered the floor in a matter of minutes anyway. Their intimate, love-filled timeframe might have caused any and everyone else who wasn't in the house (which was basically everyone since Sharon and Grissom's mother had gone shopping and Catherine and Jim were at work) to be locked out of the house for that amount of time, but Grissom and Sara didn't know that nor did they care. They got lost within each other and nothing on the outside of their world mattered. They heard the knocks on the door very faintly every now and then from their bedroom. Sara was tickled pink when Grissom just plainly and bluntly ignored Jim...

* * *

_Sara had just gotten back home from a quick run to the corner store and Grissom had met her at the bottom of the stairs. He was dressed in the same slacks, but had changed into a dark green, button-up shirt. She went upstairs and he slowly followed her. Sara glanced back at him, taking note of the odd look in his eyes, one she knew all too well. Sara stopped a little ways into the hallway at the top of the staircase and faced Grissom fully. He stopped about a foot from her and she knew what he wanted immediately. She gently, but aggressively, sandwiched him between a nearby wall and herself before smiling at him. He gazed into her eyes, grinned back at her, and proceeded to put his hands around her body. Sara put threw her arms around his neck and he pulled her closer to him before they both leaned in closer and met the other's lips halfway. Somewhere along the way, they made their way over to the bed and started shedding the clothes they had on. Sara was on her back, laying on the bed and Grissom was standing near the edge of the bed, taking his shirt off._

_"Hang on; are you up to this?" He seemed confused as finished unbuttoning and shrugging his shirt off his shoulders. _

_"What do you mean?" He took his arm out of one of the sleeves and took it off the other before throwing it over to the side of the bed._

_"I don't want you to hurt yourself." He grinned at her._

_"I'm not going to hurt myself, Sara." He answered with a hint of sarcasm._

_"I'm serious, Gil. Your wound still hasn't healed all the way yet."_

_"I'll be fine." He said in a dismissing tone._

_"Gil-"_

_"Sara," He said with a smirk. "Trust me; I'll be fine." She gave him a disbelieving look. He climbed onto the bed, continued to position himself over her stomach, and put his hands on top of her wrists beside her head; he had her gently pinned down. Sara watched him as he did all of this, wondering what exactly he was planning to do, but, at the same time, trusting him every step of the way. She gazed up at him as his face hovered right over hers. He smiled at her, and she pushed her lips to his again. As the next few minutes passed, she could feel his penis on her stomach; it had become increasingly more and more erect as they continued to explore each other's mouth. A while later, Sara wiggled one of her wrists free and ran her hand through Grissom's hair. He parted his lips from hers, and he felt her other hand running down his chest, his abdomen, and finally stopped down at his crotch._

_"Whoa, somebody's happy."_

_"Ohh, you have _no_ idea. These pants are gonna have to come off. " He replied with a smirk. "Would you like to do the honors?" Sara began pulling down his pants and grinned devilishly up at Grissom._

_"I thought you'd never ask."_

* * *

_About an hour later, Sara was still lying on her back on the bed and Grissom was still on top of her, but they had succeeded in getting the rest of their clothes off by this time. Although he was practically laying on her before, he had sat back between her legs and up on his knees to mess with the condom that seemed to be uncooperative. Sara didn't mind; it gave her the opportunity to please her eyes and slowly gaze up and down his body. Suddenly, he stopped what he was doing and whipped his head back around towards the bedroom door. Sara noticed his attention change almost immediately._

_"Gil?" At first, she had thought something was wrong. What was bothering her the most was that he was just staring at the door; he wasn't moving at all. "Gil, what's wrong?"_

_"Did you hear that?" He asked her while continuing to stare at the bedroom door. "I thought I heard someone." She was silent for a moment and then she heard a faint "Sara? Gil? You in there? Open up; let me in.". Sara waited a few more seconds before asking,_

_"Is that Jim?"_

_"I think so." Grissom answered her with a nod and a sideways glance at her._

_"I locked the door and he doesn't have a key to get in..." Grissom gave that signature half-shrug of his and had a look on his face that seemed to convey that he didn't really care. "Don't you think we should let him in?" He turned his head back to watch her while she started sitting up, but Grissom put his hand on her bare stomach and gently pushed her back down into the bed. He shook his head and then put his hands on the bed on either side of her._

_"No, we have some-" He placed a light kiss on her chest. "-unfinished business-" He placed another on the side of her neck. "-to attend to." He smiled devilishly at her when he finally reached her lips and brought his down to hers. "He's just going to have to wait," Sara couldn't help but grin up at Grissom. "Now isn't he?"_

* * *

A few days later, Catherine softly knocked on the front door of Grissom's townhouse. She had had a tough day at the lab. But she thought it would be good to stop by and see how Grissom was doing. She heard the locks being unlocked from inside and it eventually opened to reveal Sharon.

"Hi, Catherine." She greeted her. She smiled at her.

"Hey, Sharon. I thought you guys were leaving today?" She nodded while moving to the side to let her in.

"We are; our plane leaves in a couple of hours." Catherine walked in and sat on the couch.

"Yeah, but you guys should probably still leave here pretty soon to get to the airport. Don't you have to check in an hour early or something?" Sharon closed the door, walked to the couch and sat on it before she answered Catherine.

"Yes, we do, but we're waiting on Gil." She gave her a confused look.

"'Waiting on Gil?' What? He's going with you to the airport?" She shrugged and nodded.

"Is that bad?"

"No, I just wouldn't have thought he would be up to going anywhere."

"He's been up and walking around the house. It seems like it wouldn't be a problem to him."

"Oh, really? That's good!" She responded with a smile. "Mind if I tag along?"

* * *

"I think Catherine's here." Grissom opened his eyes and gazed at Sara, who was holding a razor with shaving cream all over it.

"How can you tell?" He asked her.

"I heard the front door open and close." She said while rinsing the razor in the sink. "I wonder if Jim's still mad at you." After spending a couple of hours waiting outside, Jim had decided to call Grissom. He tried calling five times before Grissom actually decided to answer his cell phone. Jim, of course, was pissed and cussed Grissom out over the phone. Sara laughed to herself as she had watched Grissom play it off as if it wasn't his fault that he hadn't opened the door for Jim.

"I don't know; he'll get over it eventually." Sara walked back over to him and slowly ran the razor over a section of Grissom's chin that still had shaving cream on it.

"He seemed pretty mad though. I mean, I've never heard Jim cuss anyone out before." Grissom smirked. "Hey, hold still or I'm going to accidentally knick you again." She finished that section and went to rinse the razor again. "What's so funny, anyway?"

"You haven't known Jim for as long as I have. Trust me, that wasn't his first time cussing someone out. And it wasn't the first time he cussed me out either."

"Wow. Really?" Sara asked while coming back to Grissom to finish shaving his beard. "What did you do to make him pissed off at you?" He smirked again.

"It was a _long_ time ago..." Sara's expression told him that she wasn't satisfied with his answer. "Let's just say it involved me, Jim's girlfriend on the phone, and a blood alcohol content level of approximately point twenty-four." Sara turned her back to him and began rinsing the razor the last time.

"Point _twenty-four_? Damn; somebody was _extremely_ drunk..." Grissom's silence prompted her to turn to face him; he had stood up and was wiping his chin with a towel. "Who was it?" He stopped wiping his chin and looked at her with an odd glint in his eyes. Sara stared at him, perplexed. "It was _you_?" He half-shrugged and gave her a grin.

"I'm not sure if I passed out or Jim knocked me out, but he was single when I woke up the next morning."

* * *

About twenty minutes later, Catherine had sat down on the couch and Sharon had gone to help Mrs. Grissom finish packing. Catherine heard faint footsteps behind the couch and turned to look in that direction. Soon after, Grissom appeared, padding slowly down the hallway. He still didn't have a shirt on, she noticed, but he had changed into a pair of dark blue jeans.

"Hi, Catherine." He said.

"Well, well, well. It's nice to see you're up out of bed and walking around. _And_ you shaved, too? You're on a roll!" He smiled and nodded. She could tell he was happy not to be on bed-arrest, as he called it. "I'm glad you shaved. You were looking kind of hairy for a minute there."

"I know. I've been told it looked like it did when I got returned from my sabbatical."

"It did. Well, anyway, it's great that you're up and about. That means your body's healing."

"Yeah, I feel a lot better. Sara told you about that ointment, right?" Catherine remembered vaguely that Sara had told her about the Aquaphor.

"Yeah, she did. That was a good decision, apparently; it worked wonders." She looked over the top half of his body. "They're not as prominent either." He looked down and fingered around his wounds.

"Nope; I'm glad. Sara was worried about that." Out of nowhere, he stopped and looked back up. "Have you heard from Warrick, Nick, or Greg? They said they were coming by today."

"Oh, yeah, they were saying something about that, but they got caught up on cases. Nick and Warrick had a nasty double homicide-" She paused to think. "And Greg had an apparent suicide to work." Grissom nodded and he had a far-off look on his face.

"I miss work. I mean, sure, I'm getting to spend extra time with Sara when she's not at work, but that's not the problem." He shook his head again. "I'm going insane staying at home. I have nothing to keep me occupied…besides Sara." Catherine noticed how nonchalantly he talked about Sara; she liked how he had changed about talking about her. "I want to return to the lab. I don't care if I can't go into the field yet. I just need something to work on."

"Have you or Sara talked to your doctor?" He shook his head. "When we get back from dropping Sharon and your mother off at the airport, you should call him and see what he says." Grissom gave her a weird expression.

" 'We'?" He asked her.

"Oh, you don't know? I'm coming with you guys."

"When did this happen?"

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No.." He cocked his head to the side. "But when was this going to come to _my_ attention?"

"I asked Sharon if I could come along. She didn't see a problem with it."

"That's not my question, Catherine." He said with a smile. Catherine took a minute to try and read what was going on in Grissom's mind, but, in the end, she didn't come up with anything. She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Don't you need to finish getting dressed or something?" He laughed and nodded.

"Yeah, I guess so." He paused and watched her expressions flash on her face: exasperation and confusion. He smirked. "You still haven't answered my question." Grissom had to retreat a few feet because of the emotion that flashed across Catherine's face. He put his hands up in a surrendering fashion. "Hey, hey, whoa. Calm down; I was only kidding, Cath." Sara came walking down the same hallway Grissom came from, saw Grissom and Catherine turn towards her, and stopped cold turkey.

"What'd I do? And what's happening in here?" She asked. Grissom looked back at Catherine, put his hands down, turned around, and started to walk towards the hallway.

"I have to finish getting dressed." He said as he passed her with a smirk on his face. Sara looked at Grissom's back as he finished his statement and then looked back at Catherine, who had started to stalk off towards the kitchen, but with a smile on her face at the same time. Sara looked at both of them again, severely confused.

"Ok, hang on. I missed _something_."

* * *

Grissom slipped back into his and Sara's bedroom and went to his closet. He grabbed an old, red button-up shirt from a hanger and unbuttoned it. He slipped it on and, starting from the bottom, buttoned up the shirt. When he was about halfway through, he heard a knock on the bedroom door.

"Yeah?" He walked out of his closet just enough to see who had knocked.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Sharon said from the doorway. He simply waved off her apology and continued buttoning his shirt.

"It's fine, Sharon. Did you need something?"

"Your mother wants to ask you something." Grissom nodded and followed her to the room where his mother was finishing up packing. Grissom went up to her and she turned to face him.

/Oh, Gil. You shaved./ He nodded.

/Yes, I did./

/When/

/About thirty minutes ago./

/Oh, ok. Well, I wanted to ask you: who's all coming with us to the airport/

/Me, Sara, and Catherine. Why/ He responded.

/I was just wondering if you all wanted to get a quick bite to eat before you drop us off/ Grissom shrugged.

/That's fine with me. Let me go ask Sara and Cath; Here.../ He picked up their suitcases and turned to Sharon. "Take her downstairs and wait for me by the door. I'll be right there." He walked out of the room, put their luggage down near the door, and then made his way to the kitchen.

* * *

Sara followed Catherine to the kitchen, where she had leaned up against the countertop.

"What happened between you two in there?" Catherine shook her head and smiled.

"Gil was just screwing around with me."

"Why did he have his hands up like you were holding him up?"

"I was about to shove my foot up his ass, that's why." Catherine looked at Sara as she continued. "He was trying to be the 'Alpha dog' over me just because Sharon and I made a decision by ourselves with letting him in on it."

"Oh.." Sara said and then started laughing; Catherine soon joined in with her. "And I thought something _serious_ had happened."

"No, nothing serious. Grissom was just...being Grissom."

"It's good to have him back." Catherine nodded.

"Yeah, it is." She paused. "I thought we had lost him when he was in that coma."

"That _was_ a close call." Sara agreed. "I'm really glad everything's almost back to normal, though."

"You and me both. When I was just talking to him, he stated that he wanted to go back to work."

"Really? He _wants_ to go back to work? Already?" Catherine nodded.

"That's what he said. He told me he was going insane." Sara shrugged, but shook her head at the same time.

"Him going back to work means he's going to be dealing with Ecklie and the sheriff, though. I'm sure Ecklie's told the sheriff about me and Gil..."

"I'm not worried about them." Sara and Catherine's heads whipped around to find Grissom leaning against the wall, hands across his now-clothed chest. "And you shouldn't be either."

"How long have you been there?" Sara and Catherine asked in unison. They looked at each other and then back at Grissom.

"Long enough." He pushed himself off of the wall and walked deeper into the kitchen. "I'll take care of Ecklie and the sheriff. They can't do anything to us."

"They can fire me.." Sara said.

"No, they can't." He walked over to her and put his arm around her waist, an action that gave her goose bumps. "If they fire you, I'm quitting." Sara was about to retort, but he brought his free hand up to her mouth and put his pointer finger over her lips. "If they transfer you to either Swingshift or Dayshift, I'm going to be _livid_. The sheriff can't afford to have me pissed at him; problems are going to start arising if that happens. He knows that. There's going to be negotiations between us two parties; they'll have to keep me happy all the while getting at an agreement that they can live with." He shook his head and smirked. "We're fine."

"You thought of this on your own?" Catherine said incredulously. Grissom looked up at her.

"I practically had nothing else to do, Catherine. Sometimes when I was solving a crossword or reading a book, I would space out for a minute and just think about random things. And, more often than not, that's what came up."

"I'm glad you thought of _something_; I couldn't think of anything." Sara said; he shrugged and smiled.

"It's what I'm here for." Remembering what he initially went down there for, Grissom changed the subject. "Mom's wanting to know if you guys want to grab something to eat on the way to the airport."

"I'm good with that." Sara said. "Cath?"

"Sounds good to me." Grissom smiled at them.

"Great. Let's go."

_TBC!_


	22. Chapter 22

_**Title: **__Welcome Home_

_**Author: **__Viggorrah_

_**Disclaimer: **__If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the __**hell **__do you think I am?_

_**Summary:** It's so nice to have everything almost back to the way it should be...Wait, hang on: what is **he** doing?_

_A/N: I have finally decided! TWO more chapters! This one and the next one; then it's done! 23 chapters? I wasn't betting on the story being _that _long! Thanks for all the reviews, loyal readers! __Well, without further ado, here's Chapter 22!_

_P.S. My computer was infected with a virus for the last four weeks, so I hadn't had the chance to write anything on the computer for a while. However, in that time period, I had written and finished almost all of this chapter in a spiral I found under my bed. Anyway, I have my computer back and it's no longer infected. Thanks for your patience. And now it's time to wrap this story up!_

Chapter XXII

The small group of five stopped at a diner off the main drag right before they reached the airport. They sat at a booth with Grissom in-between Sara and Catherine on one side and his mother and Sharon sitting opposite them. Their waiter came over to the table, introduced himself and took their orders. After he left, the five of them delved into conversation. Topics were random (some were about Grissom's childhood, a topic in which he was quiet through the entire time), but no one mentioned what had happened within the last few weeks. Mrs. Grissom wanted to leave Las Vegas on a good note; the other four were all too happy to oblige her. When their food was brought out to them, the conversation slowed, but someone was always saying something. Overall, the outing was fun; especially for Grissom. He finally got out of the house; he didn't necessarily care what for. As long as he was out of the confinement of his townhouse, he was fine with whatever they were doing. After Grissom and his mother finished arguing who was going to pay the bill, he and Sara climbed back into Catherine's city-issued Denali and waited for Sharon and Mrs. Grissom to get situated in their rental car. Once everyone was ready to go, the two-vehicle caravan continued the trek to the Las Vegas International Airport.

* * *

"What about about the knives I collected at the crime scene?" A couple of days later, Sara found herself at the Crime Lab processing evidence alongside Greg and Nick. The case was pretty straightforward: a man named Cody Davis had found his fiance, Madison Griffin, in their living room after she had apparently been stabbed to death. He claimed he was at work all day until eleven that night, when he came home through the front door and found her laying on her back in a large blood pool, dead. Or so he claims..

"I printed each knife and found prints from the husband and wife, as well as one print that was unknown." Greg answered her. All three of them were standing around a processing table with Greg opposite Sara and Nick on Greg's left.

"Did you check them for blood?" Greg shook his head but, at the same time, Nick spoke up.

"I sprayed each one with luminol and only one was positive for blood: the butcher knife."

"So..the butcher knife is our murder weapon." Greg said matter-of-factly with a slight nod.

"Whose prints were on the butcher knife, Greg?" He checked the notes he had taken earlier that night while printing the knives. Greg smiled at his two partners.

"That was the knife with the unknown print."

"Do they have any children?" Nick asked. Sara shook her head.

"No, but Mr. Davis has an angry ex-wife."

"_Ex_-wife?" Greg asked.

"Stacey Davis filed for divorce on October sixth of last year after she thought Mr. Davis was cheating on her." Sara explained. "It turns out that he actually _was_ cheating on her," She pointed to a picture of Madison lying on the table. "With our vic."

"Did Stacey know it was her?" Greg asked her. Sara merely shrugged.

"I don't know. Jim hasn't brought her in yet." A few minutes later, Greg's phone began to ring.

"Sanders."

_"Hey, Greg. I have a Stacey Davis in custody down here. Would one of you like to come and accompany me while I interrogate her?"_

"Yeah, sure. We'll need her prints, so I'll be right there." Greg closed his phone and turned his attention back to Sara and Nick. "That was Jim. He's got Stacey Davis. I'm gonna to run down there and get her prints real quick."

"Okay, Greg. Then I'll compare her prints to the unknown on the murder weapon." Nick said. Greg nodded and then slipped out into the hallway.

"Well, we can't really do anything until Greg gets back, so..." Sara started while Nick stetched his back.

"You wanna go grab something to drink in the break room?" He asked while pointing over his shoulder in the general direction of the break room. Sara smiled and nodded.

"I was hoping you'd say that." Nick followed her out of the room and walked next to her down the hall. As they made their way through the winding halls, they discussed their case.

"So, if Stacey's prints match the unknown print on the murder weapon, we've got a slam dunk."

"But what if they don't match? If what Mr. Davis said is true, Madison didn't have any enemies at work..or anywhere else for that matter." Sara stated while she waved and Nick spoke to Archie, the Audio/Visual lab technician.

"Hey, Arch." Nick's attention returned to the case. "Well, we'll just have to start looking other places." The twosome took a final turn and saw the break room. "By being a business owner, there's no way Mr. Davis didn't make at least _one_ enemy somewhere along the way." Nick continued as he held the door open for Sara and then for himself.

"True enough...I suppose we should wait for the results of the comparison before jumping ahead, though." Sara suggested while accepting a bottle of water from Nick, who was grinning.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm glad your conscience decided to speak up. Grissom would be having a _fit_ right now." Sara took a sip from the bottle and leaned up against the nearest counter before answering him.

"He _would_ be giving one of his mini-lectures..." She agreed with a smile.

"Speaking of Grissom, how is he? I haven't talked to him since last week."

"He's fine." Sara took another sip of water. "He's being Grissom; he can't wait to come back to work."

"Is he moving around better?" She nodded vigorously.

"He's moving around like nothing happened to him, Nicky." Nick nodded as he drank some of his water.

"All of us should get together sometime. Y'know, to celebrate his recovery and everything."

"He'd enjoy that. It would be a fun outing for him."

"What does he usually do when you're here at the Lab?" Sara shrugged and shook her head.

"I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure he finds _some_ way to keep himself occupied..."

* * *

An endless pattern of programs seened to repeat themselves to Grissom as he aimlessly flipped through the channels on the TV in his living room. He was lying on his side on the couch with his feet up on an armrest and his head resting on the other. He wore light blue slacks and a white sleeveless shirt. After a few more minutes of pointless channel-surfing, Grissom turned the TV off. '_If it's going to be_ this _hard to find something to watch other than paid programming and plotless movies, then there's no point in watching TV at all._' He told himself. He moved into a sitting position with ease and scratched the back of his head tiredly. Grissom was about to lay back down on the couch to go to sleep, but a noise coming from his bedroom caught his attention: his cell phone. He checked the wall clock; it read 1:48 (A.M.) '_Who would be calling me this late?_' He rose from the couch and manuvered his way to his bedroom. He went to his nightstand, picked up the phone, and answered it without even the slightest glance at the caller ID.

"Grissom."

_"Why do you answer your phone that way when you're not even working?" _Grissom smiled as he sat on the edge of the bed.

"I don't know, Sara. Habit, I guess." He heard her laughter on the other end of the line.

_"So what are you up to? I hope I didn't wake you." _

"No, honey, you didn't wake me. I wasn't even asleep. I'm trying to get my 'nocturnal mindset' back. It seems unnatural for me to be awake during the day and asleep at night."

_"Well, I'd say you're doing pretty well: it's one fifty-one. How long have you been up?" _

"When does shift start?"

_"Nine." _

"About an hour before then; _Numb3rs_ had just come on."

_"Oh, ok. What all have you watched?"_

"Besides, _Numb3rs_? _Killer Forensics_, _Forensic Files_, _LA Forensics_...I also solved some of those Sudoku puzzles in that book you bought me yesterday."

_"So many forensics shows. What channel were they on?" _

"Court TV."

_"Did you learn anything new?" _He gave her a half-laugh.

"No. They covered the basics of forensics, but they didn't have anything too specific. They barely touched on ballistics."

_"If you weren't learning anything, why did you continue to watch them?" _

"It was either that or Jerry Springer."

_"Ah..._Forensics Files_ isn't that bad..."_

"Yeah, I thought so, too." Grissom heard her laugh and joined her.

_"Oh, hang on...someone wants to talk to you..."_ He heard some faint rustling on the other end before he heard a different voice. _"Hello?"_ Grissom immediately grinned.

"Hey Nicky!"

_"Hey Griss! How ya doing?"_

"Better. A _lot_ better. How about you?" He heard Nick exhale on the other end.

_"Nothing much; just working. As I'm sure you know, Ecklie's on the prowl again; everyone's gotta stay on their toes and watch their ass." _Grissom placed his free hand over his eyes and slid it down over his face before resting that arm on his thigh.

"That man needs a hobby.." He muttered and then Nick burst out laughing.

_"You still have that dry humor, Griss. I can't wait until you're back at work."_

"Me neither, Nick. Me neither..."

* * *

Greg watched with disinterest as two officers escorted Mrs. Davis out of the interrogation room. Taking her prints wasn't exactly a bowl of cherries: it took her ten minutes to actually consent to Greg printing her and a few more to carry out the task. He glanced over at Jim, who was massaging his forehead with his right hand.

"I hate people who want to know beyond the reason we need their prints. Why doesn't 'We're going to eliminate you from the list of suspects by taking your prints' register with them?" Greg shrugged and finished putting away his printing materials.

"I don't get it either. Usually they ask, we tell, and everybody's happy." Jim nodded.

"I felt like we were the ones being interrogated. She was asking some in-depth questions there." Greg closed his kit, picked it up, and headed for the door; Jim followed.

"I'm glad I wasn't the only one in there. I'd still be trying to convince her to let me print her." Jim smirked as he closed the door behind him and walked with Greg back to the Lab.

"So, now that you have her prints, what are you going to compare them to?"

"A pair of unknown prints on the murder weapon."

"Ooo...a possible case-breaker, huh?"

"Yup." Jim's cell began to vibrate in his pants pocket. The caller ID read 'STOKES'.

"Brass."

_"What's taking Greg so long with those prints, Jim?"_ Jim was thoroughly confused and it showed on his usually unemotional face. He checked his phone again just to make sure he wasn't going completely crazy.

"Sara?" Greg glanced at him. "Sara, _why_ are you calling me on Nick's phone?"

_"Nick's on my phone."_

"And _why_ is Nick on your phone?"

_"He's talking to Grissom."_

"I still don't understand why he's on _your_ phone instead of his own."

_"I called Grissom on my phone and Nicky wanted to talk to him. I had to call you to make sure Greg was going to be getting those prints back to us so we can break this case some time this year."_

"Oh...ok. Well, we're on our way back to you two right now. And keep Grissom on the line; I want to talk to him, too."

_"Will do, Jim. Just get those prints up here and I'll make anything happen."_

"Anything?" Jim asked, his interest peaked. He heard a snicker of laughter on the other end of the line. "Well, if you put if like _that_..."

_"Don't overdo it."_ He laughed at her tone.

"Hey, kiddo, you know I'm just messing with ya. I'll see you in a few." He closed his phone and placed it back in his pocket.

"What was that all about?" Greg asked.

Jim merely shook his head and smiled.

* * *

Rory Atwater did not want to deal with this particular issue right now. He felt as though he should wait until Grissom came back to work to talk to him and Sara together, but Ecklie, being Assistant Lab Director, had convinced him otherwise. In order to do that, though, he had to come in an entire shift early, an action in which he wasn't too fond of. Graveyard was about to check out and clear the Lab by the time he got there. Swingshift would be coming in to start their day soon, but he was hoping to catch Sara on her way out of the Lab. As he walked back to his office from getting some of the sludge they call coffee from the break room, all the Graveyard CSIs and Jim came around the corner, smiling and joking around with each other. As they closed the distance between them and him, they politely acknowledged him.

"Mornin' Sheriff." They all said together. '_They sound like a cult..._' he thought to himself while sighing inwardly.

"Morning guys." He greeted them. As the group passed him, he stopped and turned to face their backs. "Sara?" Every one of them stopped walking and looked back as if all their names had been called. "May I speak with you in my office before you leave?" The happiness seemed to evaporate after he finished his question. After the slighest hesitation, Sara reluctantly broke off from the group.

"I'll, uh, meet you guys at the diner." She told them and they nodded their understanding. The rest of the original group turned back around and continued towards the front of the building. Sheriff Atwater proceeded to walk to his office with Sara following him like a child about to receive a detention. He opened the door to his office, let himself in, turned on the lamp on his desk, and sat down in his chair behind his desk. Sara followed him inside and stood in front of his desk between the two ever-present chairs. "Please; sit."

"I'm fine standing, thanks." She replied as politely as she could. He looked at her briefly and continued.

"Suit yourself." He said. "You probably have a good idea as to what this is going to be about, so I'l cut to th-"

"Actually, no, I don't know what this is about." She interrupted him. He gave her a 'Don't Play Dumb' look. He grabbed a case file from a shelf behind him and opened it just enough to grab some photos. He glanced through them adn then placed one in front of her.

"What is this a picture of, Sara?" She looked at the picture and immediately recognized what it was.

"It's a large pool of coagulated blood, sir." He nodded and placed another one out.

"And this one?"

"Two bloody forty-five caliber bullets, if I'm not mistaken." Sara didn't like the direction in which this was going in the least bit. She studied the next grisly photo he set out.

"This photo is of the entire room. Recognize it?" She inhaled sharply and stared at the picture before averting her gaze to a file cabinet to her right.

"It's Grissom's..." She paused. "It's where he was..."

"Right; this is where Gil was shot." Sara flinched at the last word. "All these photos and this entire file cover his case." He continued as he put the remaining photos and the rest of the file on his desk. "Do you have any idea where this is going _now_?" She shook her head slowly.

"No." She lied.

"While Gil was recovering in the hospital, someone, who I will not name, brought it to my attention that you and he are romantically involved with each other. Is this accusation true?" Sara didn't answer him right away, but instead thought of her options. '_Well, Sidle, it's finally happened. Not only has the sheriff been notified, but I'm here alone- without Grissom... I can talk now and get us both fired _or _I can try to postpone and come back later with Gil to work this mess out..._' "Answer my question, Miss Sidle." '_I'd rather have Gil here with me for this.._' "Sara-"

"I'd be more comfortable having this conversation with Grissom here." She blurted out. Sheriff Atwater studied her for a moment before speaking again.

"I'll be here all day; you _and _Gil can come back anytime before your own shift starts."

"Thank you, sir. We'll be back up here before then." He turned to his left and closed his eyes like he ususally did right before he dismissed someone.

"I'll talk to you _both_ later today, then." And there it was. Sara turned on her heel and hurriedly exited the office. She briskly walked down the hallway and didn't stop until she was sitting in her Denali, her head resting against the headrest. Sara thought to herself, '_I need to get home and tell Gil what's going on..._' She paused and closed her eyes. '_Gil...I need him...to be near him..._' Her eyes popped open, she started the truck, and headed out of the Crime Lab parking lot.

* * *

Catherine, Warrick, Nick, Greg, and Jim had all finished eating, argued who _wasn't _going to pay the bill (Warrick sucks at Rock, Paper, Scissors), and were now just sitting and chatting. Well, not really; Nick and Greg were having a 'joke-off' to see who knew the funniest jokes.

"Knock, knock." Greg began.

"Who's there?" Nick answered.

"Interrupting cow."

"Interrupting cow w-"

"Moo!" Greg laughed at his own joke. Meanwhile, Catherine shook her head, Jim stared, and both Nick and Warrick borrowed Grissom's 'What the hell?' look he gave Greg every now and then.

"Man, where did you find that joke, Greg?" Warrick asked once Greg had stopped laughing. Greg merely shrugged.

"I think I heard it from one of my little cousins.." Warrick rolled his eyes.

"_Any_way...your turn Nick."

"Okay. There are three guys walking through a forest and their names are Shut Up, You're Stupid, and Trouble. Along the way, Trouble gets lost. The other two continue walking through the forest until they meet a police officer-" Catherine's phone cut him off from her purse and she quickly retrieved it and answered it.

"Willows."

_"Hey, Cath; it's Sara." _

"Hey Sara. Are you gonna get here soon? You're missing all the jokes-"

_"I'm sorry, Catherine, but, uh, I'm not going to be able to join you guys..." _Catherine could have sworn she detected some sadness in Sara's voice.

"Is everything alright?"

_"I just don't feel up to it right now. I need to go home."_

"Uh, ok...but you _are _okay, right?"

_"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll talk to you guys later at work."_

"Okay. I'll see ya at work tonight."

_"Bye." _The line clicked and she was gone. Catherine closed her phone and placed it back in her purse.

"Is Sara alright?" Jim asked her. She looked up and all four of the guys were staring at her, waiting for an answer.

"She's fine; she was just calling to say she wasn't going to be joining us."

"What did the sheriff say?" Greg asked. She shook her head again.

"She didn't say."

"I've got a pretty good idea." Warrick said with a scowl on his face. Nick chirped in.

"I'll bet you it was about her and Grissom." Jim sighed heavily and Greg ran a hand through his hair nervously.

"By the way she sounded, I'd say you're right, Nicky." Catherine agreed. The group was quiet for a moment, lost in their own thoughts. Jim watched each one of them closely before speaking.

"We have no place in this battle." The other four looked at him, shocked that he knew what they were thinking. "As much as we would all love to step in and help, it'll only make matters worse. All we can do is stand on the sidelines and hope to God everything works out." They nodded and Greg spoke.

"I hope she'll be okay.."

"She said she was going home." Catherine smiled at Greg. "I'm sure she'll feel better when she gets there."

_To Be Concluded! _


	23. Chapter 23

_**Title:**__ Welcome Home _

**_Author: _**_Viggorrah_

_**Disclaimer:**__ If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the __**hell**__ do you think I am?_

_**Summary:**__ Sara arrives home, then she and Grissom have some visitors.  
_

Chapter XXIII

Sara locked the Denali and grabbed the housekey from her keyring. She walked up to the door, inserted the key, unlocked the door, and let herself in. She threw her keys on the couch and gently closed the door behind her and locked it. She walked deeper into the house, turned down into the hallway, went up the stairs, stood in the doorway of her bedroom, and looked inside. Grissom's bare back was facing the ceiling and his head turned away from the doorway. His right arm was under his stomach and his left was extended out across her side of the bed. His left leg was bent and his left ankle was resting on his leg slightly above his right calf. _'He sure sleeps in the oddest positions..'_ she thought to herself and smiled. Sara quietly walked to her side of the bed, and took off her shoes before gently lying on the bed next to Grissom (She had moved his arm and laid it on her stomach). For the first few minutes, she just laid there, thinking and listening to the soft breathing of the man sleeping beside her. Eventually she decided to stop thinking about the meeting that was to happen later that day and to try and get some sleep. She turned on her side and lay face to face with Grissom, who didn't seem to notice the extra body heat as she snuggled closer to him. She wasn't that tired yet, but when the fatigue finally hit her, she didn't fight it and soon she drifted off to sleep.

A few hours later, the bedroom was eerily quiet, save the breathing of the two individuals sleeping on the bed together. Suddenly, Grissom inhaled deeply and turned his head toward his nightstand. His eyes slowly opened and his fuzzy gaze fell on his phone. He lifted his right leg and twisted it and his abdomen awkwardly in an attempt to get his right arm from underneath his stomach. Once his arm was free, he grabbed his phone, opened it, and immediately noticed that he had a missed call from Jim. He sighed, dangled his arm on the side of the bed, and turned his head back around the other way. He saw Sara sleeping under a blanket she had apparently gotten from the linen closet. Grissom pushed himself up as gently as he could and swung his legs around so he could sit up. He rose from the bed and quietly walked to the bedroom door and went down the hallway. He went downstairs drowsily and to the kitchen. Grissom pressed the green 'SEND' button and put the phone to his ear. It rang a few times and then the line opened.

_"Brass."_

"You rang, Jim?" Grissom said while yawning and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

_"Yeah..Is everything alright with Sara?"_ Jim asked. Grissom stopped rubbing his eye and stared straight ahead.

"What do you mean, 'Is everything alright?'? Did something happen?" He sat down in a chair he pulled out from under the table.

_"Well, I don't know if I should be telling you-"_

"Jim, _what_ happened?" Grissom leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. He was getting annoyed.

_"I'm not even sure that's what they were talking about..."_ The line was unnaturally quiet for a minute or so. _"Gil? You still there?"_

"Do you know how uncomfortable it's going to be for you when my foot's stuck up your ass?" Grissom said with a hint of irritation in his voice.

_"Take it easy, Gil!"_

"Then tell me what happened. _Now._"

_"Hey, okay, just calm down."_ Jim paused to let him cool off. _"Atwater called Sara into his office when we were leaving the lab this morning. We were all supposed to go and eat breakfast together, but when she and the sheriff were through, Sara called Catherine to tell her that she wasn't going to join us; that she was going straight home."_ Grissom was completely quiet as Jim hurriedly told him what had happened earlier that morning. _"We think they talked about you two's involvement with each other. We're not sure, but we think so."_

"Damnit. I was hoping he was going to wait until I got back to work to bring that up."

_"We don't know if that's what they actually talked about, Gil."_

"She wouldn't come straight home like that if it was something different, Jim."

_"True enough. She hasn't told you yet?" _

"I was asleep when she got home."

_"I'm sure she'll mention it when she gets up. Hey, would you mind if I came over in a few hours?"_

"That's fine; I'll be up."

_"Okay. See ya later."_ The line clicked and Grissom closed his phone. He put his phone on the tabletop, drooped his head, and gripped his hair on either side of his head right above his ears. He sighed and both his shoulders drooped as well. Grissom stayed that way for at least five minutes, staring blankly at the kitchen floor before he lifted his head glanced towards the doorway. He got up from the chair, slowly walked out of the kitchen, and back upstairs. He walked back into the bedroom and lay on the bed close to Sara. He positioned his body flush against hers. She had turned over when he was downstairs and so his face was now mere inches from hers. Grissom's arm was lightly wrapped around her middle and he was content for the time being. He watched her peacefully sleep for a little while, but then closed his eyes and dozed. The second he felt movement, though, Grissom opened one eye to see Sara struggling to get comfortable again. To help her, he scooted up towards the headboard and she automatically snuggled her head into his chest. Once she got settled, he relaxed and dozed until he fell fully asleep.

--

In his subconscious a while later, Grissom heard his name being called. "Gil? Hey, wake up." Something started shaking his shoulder. "Gil...? Gil." By this time, he was coming around, so he opened his eyes, blinked a few times from the sun shining through the sides of the closed blinds, and yawned before looking down to Sara. "Hey, Sleepyhead."

"Hey yourself." He said with a yawn. "How long have I been out, Sara?" She shook her head.

"I don't know. A few hours, I guess."

"I must have drifted off to sleep after I got off the phone with Jim..." Sara fell silent at the mention of Jim's name. "Honey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing..." She answered almost immediately.

"Sara.." Grissom's tone enticed her to look up into his loving, yet demanding blue eyes. _Tell me_, they seemed to whisper to her. She looked back down and started to distractedly play with the scar that would forever vacate his chest.

"I, um..." Sara could feel his eyes staring at her. "I was called into the sheriff's office this morning after work to-"

"-discuss our involvement with each other." She looked back up at him with a shocked look. "That's what made you come straight home afterward, right?" It soon changed to exasperation.

"Nobody likes it when you do that."

"Numerous people have said that to me." He shrugged and smirked at her. "I can't help it." She continued to mess with Grissom's scar.

"How did you find out, though?"

"Jim."

"How'd he find out?"

"Catherine."

"And how did she find out?"

"You."

"I didn't tell her, Gil."

"I didn't say you told her, Sara." Sara roughly jabbed Grissom in his ribcage. "Ow!...What?"

"Don't be a smartass."

"I wasn't being a smartass.." He said defensively while rubbing the area in which she jabbed him.

"How did Cath find out?"

"She and the guys probably just put two and two together after you called her. And that poke of yours did hurt, I'll have you know." Sara ran her hands over Grissom's entire chest.

"You'll live." He sighed and proceeded on with the conversation.

"So what did Rory say to you?"

"Well, although I didn't know it at the time, he showed me photos from your file." She said solemnly.

"My case file?" He asked rather unemotionally.

"Yeah..." Sara took a deep breath. "The first one was of the bloodpool, another one of the whole room, and the other one was of the two bullets they extracted during your surgery."

"Anything else?"

"Not really..He asked if the accusation about us was true or not."

"And your answer was...?" Grissom prompted.

"I didn't answer the question. I told him I'd feel more comfortable if you were there with me." Sara was now messing with the scar that resided a few inches above his pants. "He said to come back anytime today and all three of us would talk." He nodded at this.

"That's good. Why didn't you answer him, though? I would have thought y-"

"Once I saw those pictures," she interrupted him. "It brought back memories of when you were...shot at the crime scene." Grissom quickly fell silent, watching and listening to Sara. "I had forgotten those memories, and in order for me to forget them again, I needed to be close to you." His gaze softened. "I needed to touch your healed wounds..." She rubbed the scar in his shoulder and he watched her hand glide over his skin over and over again. "I needed to reassure myself that you were alright." She told him quietly. Grissom looked from her hand to her face with such deep, passionate eyes that she almost thought she wasn't looking at Gilbert Grissom, but at some other man. She slid up to where she could reach him comfortably and planted a light kiss on his lips. Sara pulled back a little, but Grissom followed her lips and, soon, they were all over each other. After a short while, they had changed positions: they were no longer side by side; Grissom had straddled her (as much as his pants would stretch) and was gently lying on top of her. His head was on the bed next to her head; he was nuzzling her neck and planting the occasional kiss here and there. Sara had her hands rubbing the area around his shoulder blades and the back of his neck. But then, as if to ruin the intimacy of the moment they were sharing, the doorbell rang.

"Damnit to hell.." Grissom said as he propped himself up with his hands on the bed on either side of Sara. "I swear, he comes at _the_ worst times."

" 'He' who?" He shook his head.

"Jim." Her brow furrowed at his answer. "I forgot to tell you: I said he could come over here in a few hours when I talked to him earlier."

"And how long ago did you talk to him?" He checked her digital clock on her nightstand and cocked his head at her.

"A few hours ago." Sara sighed and smiled at him while moving out from underneath him and sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Well , I guess I better change out of the clothes I went to work in last night.." Grissom merely shrugged and stretched out on his stomach across the bed with his feet dangling off the foot of the bed. "Hey, don't get comfortable; what's Jim going to do if you don't let him in?"

"Go get himself a damn key."

"Behave, Gil." He turned his head and looked at her.

"I _am_ behaving." He said with a smirk.

"Would you just go let Jim in and stop bitching about it?" Grissom moderately glared at her.

"Why do _I_ have to be the one to let him in?" He asked while she glared back down at him.

"Because he's _your_ best friend." Grissom sighed as he rolled over, rose from the bed, and stalked towards the doorway to the hallway. Sara jumped up from the bed and walked behind him. She swung her arms around his waist right before he left the bedroom and rested her chin on his left shoulder.

"I'm pretty sure he brought some form of alcohol, Gil.."

"Bribery's not going to work here, Sara." Grissom gave her one of those dazzling smiles he saved only for her. The doorbell rang again, and both of them, though they didn't notice, glared down the staircase and in the general direction of where Jim was standing outside the front door.

"I guess you better go, Gil." He glanced back at her with a uninterested look.

"I don't _have_ to, y'know." Sara laughed as she let go of him and he went down the stairs and down the hallway. He entered the living room and walked through it to get to the door. He heard Jim call his name from the other side of the door as he started to unlock it. "I'm right here, Jim..just hang on." Grissom said loud enough so he could hear him. He unlocked both locks on the door and opened it, only to be stopped dead in his tracks. "What the-"

"Jesus, Gil! It took you long enough." Jim noticed that Grissom wasn't paying attention to him, but to the people behind him.

"What're they-"

"What? Didn't I tell you? I was going to bring a few friends with me." Grissom gave him a disbelieving look.

"A few? Jim, 'few' means two. Two is not the same as _five_." It was true; along with Jim stood Catherine, Warrick, Nick, Greg, and even the lead coroner (and Grissom's good friend), Al Robbins.

"Come on, Gil.." Catherine said with a smile. "Greg brought beer..." Greg proudly held up the twenty-four pack of beer he was holding and Grissom smiled back at them and moved back to let them in.

"Well, since you brought beer..." He joked with them as he held his hand out towards the couch. "Come on in, guys. Make yourselves at home." They all walked in and he closed the door behind them. "Is the beer cold?"

"Not really." Greg answered him.

"Bring it in here." Grissom said while walking behind the couch and towards the kitchen. "We can put in the fridge for a little while until it gets cold." Greg followed him into the kitchen and put the pack of beer on the table before opening it and handing two of the bottles to Grissom who, in turn, put them on the top shelf in the fridge. They repeated this process until all the beer was in the fridge and then Grissom closed the fridge door.

"Where do I put this?" Greg asked, referring to the empty cardboard box he was holding.

"Just leave it there; I'll get it later." He put the box back down on the table and turned to follow Grissom back to the living room.

"You look good, Gris." He looked back at Greg. "I mean, the battlescars-."

" 'Battlescars', Greg?" Greg nodded once.

"Yeah. Technically speaking, they are battlescars, right?" Grissom just raised his eyebrow in response. "Well, either way, they don't look that bad." His eyelids drooped slightly and Grissom nodded once.

"Right...Thanks, Greg." As the two walked arrived where the others were now comfortable (and some seated), Greg continued to ask Grissom questions.

"Did they naturally heal like that?"

"Naturally?" Grissom stopped, turned to face Greg fully, and put his hands in his pants pockets. "What do you mean naturally?"

"You just let them heal on their own and they ended up like that?" Al jumped in and answered.

"He would have had to put something on his wounds for them to become as light as they are." Everyone turned to the coroner except Nick and Warrick, who were quietly observing Grissom's scars.

"How do you know?"

"Are you really going to question a coroner on this subject, Greg?"

"Bad move." Came a voice from the hallway.

"I was wondering when you were coming down here.." Grissom said to Sara as she joined the group.

"Hi Sara!" Greg said excitedly.

"Hey, Greg!" She said back to him with a smile. "What are all of you doing here?" Sara gave a peculiar look to Grissom. "I thought only Jim was coming over."

"Well, the plan changed and Jim just failed to mention that to me." He glared at Jim, who just grinned in return. "This is the first and last time he will fail to mention anything to me." Jim jumped up off of the couch.

"What, Gil? You wanna go at it? Come on; let's go!" Grissom just looked at him with an unamused stare.

"And kill us both?" He shook his head. "I don't think so." The room filled with laughter as the two friends stood and glared at each other.

"Grissom? Can I ask you one more question?"

"Sure, Greg."

"Do they still hurt?" Grissom's attention switched from Jim to Greg.

"You've never seen healed gunshot wounds before, have you?" He asked with a genuine smile. Sara walked around the couch and through the winding sea of feet to stand next to Grissom, who, in turn, put his right arm around her shoulders. "And, no, they don't." Jim faced Grissom again.

"Hey! Enough about you; what about me?" He received that same unamused look from Grissom.

"What about you?"

"You're not the only one here who's been shot, Gil." He took his free hand out of his pocket, angled his head down to the side, closed his eyes, and scratched the back his head before answering Jim.

"I realize that." He placed his hand back in his pocket. "What's your point?"

"Mine didn't heal as well as yours did." Everyone in the room glanced at each other before looking back at Jim as a sign of they didn't get it.

"Do you mind showing us what you're talking about?" Catherine asked, confused. Grissom looked at her like she had spawned another head.

"_Jim_? Take his shirt _off_?" He shook his head as if trying to get a nasty thought out of his mind. "Let me get this straight: you're asking _Jim_ to take his shirt _off_?"

"Yeah...what's the problem? You have yours off.."

Yeah, but mine's not off for terrorizing purposes." He stated while Jim stopped unbuttoning his shirt and glared at him.

"Shut up!" Sara smiled as she watched Grissom grin at Jim, who had continued and finished unbuttoning his shirt. He parted the two sections to reveal the year-old scar. They examined it and made the comparison to Grissom's. "See? His looks a lot better."

"Yeah, they _do_..."

"Don't be so modest, Gil." Grissom merely shrugged and smirked.

"What can I say? I'm a modest guy."

"So what did you all _really_ come here for?" Sara asked the group in the living room.

"Just to hang out." Warrick answered.

"And talk." Nick added.

"And have a beer or two." Catherine finished. Jim looked up from his shirt.

"I'm for that last one."

"You and me both." Grissom agreed with him with a nod. Greg rolled his eyes at how far off-track they had gotten.

"We came to see how you were doing from this morning." Greg told her. This momentarily stunned Sara.

"Oh...well..I, umm-"

"Whoa, wait, _hang on_." Grissom interrupted her. He took his hand out of his pocket and held up one finger in a "#1" fashion. "Rule Number One in this house: No lachrymosity without beer."

"Amen to that, man!" Warrick said while rising from the couch. "Anybody else want one?" Everyone in the room nodded, said 'Yes', or raised their hand. Grissom took his arm from its resting place on Sara's shoulders and moved towards Warrick.

"I'll help you with those, 'Rick." The two men disappeared into the kitchen and came back with opened beer bottles for everyone. They handed them out and went back to their prior spots. "Ok, now we're good." Grissom smiled at Sara. "Please; do continue."

"Well, I can say I'm doing much better than earlier."

"What did the sheriff want?" Jim asked.

"You were right." Grissom simply told him before taking a drink from his beer.

"He wanted to know about me and Grissom; plain and simple."

"We're going back later today so we can both talk to him."

"Sounds like fun." Greg said with just a hint of sarcasm. Everyone looked at the couple of Sara and Grissom, who took another drink from his beer.

"Yeah, loads."

"Well, we wanted to all come over here and tell you two that we're behind you; all the way. No matter what." Warrick told them. Nick, Greg, Catherine, Jim, and Al all nodded their agreement.

"We don't care about the sheriff." Catherine said. "We approve of you two finally getting it on!" Everyone in the room laughed at her statement.

"We appreciate it, guys." Sara told them. "We really do."

_TBC!_


	24. Chapter 24

_**Title:**__ Welcome Home _

**_Author: _**_Viggorrah_

_**Disclaimer:**__ If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the __**hell**__ do you think I am?_

_**Summary:**__ With the support of their closest friends behind them, Grissom and Sara finally go to face the sheriff._

Chapter XXIV

Warrick, Nick, Jim, Catherine, Al, and Greg had all left Grissom's townhouse somewhere around noon. The guys had to go get some sleep before work that night and Catherine wanted to spend some time with Lindsay when she got home from school that day. Grissom and Sara didn't know what time they were going to head to the lab, so they just hung around the house for about an hour after everyone had left. They had gone back upstairs to their bedroom and were currently just lying on the bed. Grissom was stretched diagonally over the bed and Sara had her head on his stomach. They were both very quiet, just enjoying each other's presence. Randomly, Grissom smelled his underarm and frowned.

"When are we going to get ready to leave, Sara?"

"I don't know, Gil. Why?"

"I need to take a shower before we leave. I haven't taken one since yesterday morning." She stuck her tongue out in disgust.

"Eww..I don't need to be lying on your stomach then, do I?"

"Hey, you need to take one as well." She shrugged.

"Yeah, I suppose so."

"I know so." She looked past his chest, which was now covered by a sleeveless shirt, and glared at him. "What'd I say?"

"That's not something a gentleman would tell a woman, Gil."

"No, it's perfectly fine for a gentleman to tell a woman she needs to take a shower." She continued to glare at him. "What a gentleman _never_ tells a woman is that she stinks." Sara's glare eased slightly.

"Alright, Mr. Gentle_man_.." He smirked. "Who's taking a shower first?"

"I don't care. I'll go first..unless you want to."

"You can go. I'll find what I'm going to wear and get my thoughts put together.."

"Sara, we don't have to go yet if you're not ready to."

"We need to go sometime soon though-"

"There's no rush, honey. We have all day." He locked eyes with her. "We'll go when you're comfortable enough to go."

"Maybe if I take a shower first, it'll help me relax."

"That's fine; I can wait." Sara looked at him and gave him a small smile before getting off the bed and going to the bathroom connected to their bedroom. Grissom remained on the bed and didn't move when he heard the water start running in the shower. After a while, though, he sat up on the bed and listened to the water that was still running. He scooted to the end of the bed, stood up, and made his way to the closed bathroom door. He gently opened the door and he was greeted by the hot steam from the hot shower. Grissom went inside, closed the door behind him, and walked to the shower curtain and watched Sara's shadow as she stood in the middle of the tub, staring at her feet. He pulled back the curtain far enough to see her fully and called out to her. "Sara?" She didn't move and didn't seem to have heard him. "Sara." She glanced back at him and looked back at the tub floor. Grissom let go of the curtain, stripped his clothes off, and stepped into the tub behind her. He pressed his body against hers, put his hands around her stomach, and his chin on her head. Grissom felt the water soaking his hair because it was getting heavy and was beginning to fall in his face and onto the back of his neck. Her body was racked with small sobs. "Sara? It's ok, honey."

"Gil, I don't know if I can face the sheriff-" Sara moved her head out from under his chin and lay on top of his shoulder. He, in return, put his chin a little farther below her shoulder. "I don't know.."

"Sara, what did I tell you?" She looked at him. "We're going to be fine."

"But I don't think I can take seeing any of those pictures again." Grissom glanced down around the tub and then back up at her. Water was running down Sara's face, so he couldn't necessarily tell if she was crying anymore or not.

"I promise you he won't show you anymore pictures." She stared into his deep, blue eyes. " I'll make sure of it." She could tell he wasn't just saying that; Grissom was dead serious. "Do you trust me?" Sara looked at the hair in his face and the water dropping from the end of his curls to his rosy cheeks.

"With my life."

--

"Come on, Sara! Let's go!" Grissom shouted through the house from the front door. Once they had gotten out of the shower, Sara grabbed a blue, short-sleeve blouse and a pair of light blue jeans from her closet. Grissom grabbed a dark grey, button-up shirt and a pair of faded, dark blue jeans. She didn't feel like messing with her hair, so she just brushed it and put it up in a ponytail. He just brushed his, evened it out, and went downstairs to look for his keys to the Denali. _'Now where did I put my keys..?'_ He looked around the kitchen and eventually ended up in the living room. He found them on the coffee table, picked them up, and went to wait for Sara by the door. He was currently still waiting for her, and Grissom decided to go and actually bring her downstairs. As he went up the stairs, he called to her again. "Sara!" She ran out of the bedroom.

"What?!"

"What's taking you so long?"

"I can't find my keys."

"You don't need them; I've got mine." Grissom turned around and headed back down the stairs with Sara following. "So, do you have everything you need?"

"Yeah." He opened the door and let her out first before going outside himself, closing the door behind him. He locked it and continued to the truck. Sara automatically went to the driver's side, but realized she didn't have the keys. "Can I have the keys so I can drive?"

"No." He answered her with a smirk.

"Why not?"

"You're not driving." He went to the Denali, opened the driver's side door and sat on the seat with his left leg inside the truck and the other dangling outside. "I am."

"You are?" He nodded. "Oh...well, ok. What made you decide you wanted to drive today?"

"I have no clue." Grissom put the key in the ignition and started the truck. He smiled at her. "But, nonetheless, I'm your chauffeur today." Sara smiled back at him and moved to the opposite side of the truck and got in. She closed the door behind her and grabbed her sunglasses she left in there and slid them on. Grissom brought his leg in and closed his door before sliding his sunglasses on, too. They both got in their seat belts and then he turned to her. "We ready?"

"Yup." Grissom put the truck in reverse and backed out of the driveway. He switched from Reverse to Drive and the truck shot forward. Once they arrived at the main road, he stopped at a stop sign.

"Do you want A-C or no?" She looked over at him and shrugged.

"It doesn't matter to me. We can roll the windows down, if you want." He turned to the left with his right hand and rolled down the windows with his left. The back windows were rolled down first and then the front ones. They went through a few stoplights before they hit the on-ramp to the highway. The wind really started blowing once they got on. It wasn't that hot for the time of the year; it was only one-hundred two degrees outside with the humidity at about seventy-six percent. They stayed on the highway for close to fifteen minutes before they exited and immediately hit a stoplight. "It doesn't feel too bad out here for the middle of the afternoon."

"It's definitely been a lot worse." He agreed with her. The light changed from red to green and the truck lurched forward. Another five minutes passed before he pulled into a parking space in the Las Vegas Crime Lab parking lot. Grissom put the truck in park and took the key from the ignition, turning the truck off. "Well, we're here. Are you still doing ok?" She got out of her seatbelt, turned to him and smiled.

"I'm doing fine." He nodded once, opened his door and got out. Sara did the same and they closed their doors pretty much at the same time. Grissom locked the truck and looked across the hood to Sara.

"Let's do this."

--

Sheriff Atwater usually wasn't nervous about anything, but this meeting with Gil and Sara was making an exception. He didn't know what was going to happen, but the mere fact that they were 'together', as kids said these days, meant that Gil was going to be very protective of Sara. Rory could try a few things, but he didn't think he was going to get that far. His first option was to fire Sara, but that probably wasn't going to go over too well with Gil. At the moment, he was in a rut, lost in his thoughts, but some noise outside his office prompted him to peek outside his door. He glanced to the left, but when he glanced to the right, he saw Gil and Sara walking down the hallway, with Grissom occasionally waving at someone working in one of the rooms. Once they got to his office, they stopped right in front of him.

"Hello, Sheriff." Sara greeted.

"Afternoon, Sheriff." He said. "Is now a bad time?"

"No; now is actually a great time. Come on in, you two." They did so and closed the door behind them. Rory sat behind his desk and Sara and Grissom each sat in one of the chairs in front of his desk. "So, Gil...How have you been doing?"

"I've been doing fine; just waiting to come back to work." He answered.

"Good; that's good." He took a deep breath. "Well, I guess we should just jump right in and get down to business, then."

"Good idea."

"I can safely say that you two are involved with each other, right?"

"Yes." They both answered without hesitation.

"There are only a few things I can do at this moment in time." He paused. "The first is to fire Miss Sidle." Sara and Grissom looked at each other.

"When do you want my Form of Resignation?" Sheriff Atwater looked at him.

"I was afraid you'd say that.." He sighed. "The second is two switch her to either Dayshift or Swingshift."

"I want to stay on Graveyard." Sara stated.

"I can't let you do that-"

"Why not?" Grissom asked.

"Because of your involvement with each other."

"I see no problem with it."

"Goddamnit, Gil!" He shouted. "You're breaking Departmental Policy! I should be firing you both right now."

"But you're not." He glared at Grissom.

"Excuse me?"

"You're not going to fire me or Sara."

"What's makes you so sure, Gil? I say two words and you're both gone."

"If you fire Sara, I'm quitting. No if's, and's, or but's." Rory was about to interrupt, but he continued. "You can't afford to fire me. After all I've done for this lab? And to top that, I'm an entomologist. There's only one other Forensic Entomologist I know and he's-."

"-in jail." He muttered. "I remember that trial.."

"I'm sure you do, Sheriff. I know I do." Sara said. "Gil's experiment made the jury give the verdict a one-hundred degree turn."

"I-" The sheriff was cut off by his office door abruptly opening. All three of them practically glared at the person who had opened it: Conrad Ecklie.

"Am I interrupting something?"

"No, Conrad. I was just talking to Gil and Sara. You're more than welcome to stay." Grissom's eyes went from Ecklie to the sheriff in a matter of seconds.

"What?" He gestured to Ecklie. "Why is he staying in here with us?"

"He's the assistant director of this lab, Gil."

"That all fine and well, but that doesn't answer why _he_ has to be in _here_ right _now_."

"Because I'm the one who's been feeding him the information about you two. I'm his source." Ecklie said while moving around Grissom to stand next to the sheriff. "Now it's two-on-two."

"I didn't know this was a basketball tournament.." Rory cleared his throat to break up the rivalry going on between the other two men.

"Anyway, it's true: Conrad has been the one giving me all the information on you two. He's the one that actually came to the accusation that you two were involved."

"Did he tell you how he came to that conclusion?" Sara asked.

"That doesn't matter." Ecklie said instantly.

"She wasn't asking you." Grissom stated.

"Guys..." The sheriff said in a warning tone. He looked at both of them. "Cut it out." Grissom turned his attention to Sara and Ecklie seemed to have shrunk into a corner of the room. "No, Sara, he didn't tell me. Why is it relevant?"

"He came to the hospital to visit Gil and ended up, really and truly, interrogating him."

"That's not what happene-" Ecklie started.

"Let her finish." Grissom cut him off. Rory watched the two to make sure nothing else was going to happen before he continued.

"What happened?"

"I was walking down the hall when I saw him. He followed me to Gil's room and told me he had to talk to him. Gil was asleep at this time, but Ecklie woke him up-"

"-and I was _livid_."

"I had to ask him a question, sir." Ecklie directed at the sheriff.

"It could have waited." Sara countered.

"Yes, Conrad, I agree with Sara." Rory looked at him. "It could have waited. You shouldn't have done that." He just shrunk even more into that corner. "Now, I want to discuss your case, Gil."

"What about it?"

"It could have been prevented." Grissom and Sara were both confused.

"I don't see where you're goi-"

"If you weren't in a romantic relationship with Sara, you wouldn't have gotten shot."

"That had nothing to do with it."

"Oh, really?" Ecklie asked.

"Really." Grissom said. "I was going to be shot, one way or the other." Sara looked at him with surprise. "There was no escaping it."

"Why do you say that?"

"As soon as he heard Sara's voice coming from downstairs, he told me to call her to come up there. I, of course, refused.." Something clicked in his head and he pointed at Ecklie. "And I have a bone to pick with you real quick."

"What? Me?"

"I know it wasn't the most prominent reason I got shot, but it didn't help." He didn't know what Grissom was referring to. "Does 'The Perfect CSI Couple' ring any bells?"

"No.."

"Well, he-"

"Being Thomas, right?" The sheriff asked.

"Right. He told me he heard someone say that on the TV about myself and Sara. Your name was the first to come to mind."

"Did you use that to refer to them during a press conference on _public_ television, Conrad?" Ecklie looked around the room nervously.

"It might have slipped out...once or twice..." They all glared at Ecklie before Rory continued with another question.

"In the interrogation, he said that you attacked him."

"Well, yeah, I did. After I refused to call to Sara, he provoked me." Grissom shrugged. "I thought he was going to kill me after I refused his request, but he didn't."

"Why didn't you want to call for her, Gil?" Ecklie asked with a hint of a smile.

"Are you really that stupid, Conrad? I mean, I knew you were a few French fries short of a HappyMeal, but dam-"

"Stop..." The sheriff warned. Grissom sighed.

"Why would I put one of my CSI's lives in danger if I didn't have to? If I had called her up there, you would be two CSIs short on Graveyard." The sheriff looked somewhat afraid.

"Why?"

"He was going to rape Sara." Sara was speechless as she continued to stare at Grissom.

"What?!"

"He was going to kill me, rape her, and then probably kill her, too."

"Why didn't tell us this in the interrogation..?" Ecklie asked the sheriff. Grissom rolled his eyes.

"Why would he? He was already getting Attempted Murder. The hole he had dug was deep enough as it was."

"So, by you getting shot," Rory started. "Almost _dying_," Grissom glanced at Sara to see how she was holding up. The look in her eyes and the way she smirked told him that she was doing alright. "And falling into a coma for a week and a half, you saved both of you and Sara's lives."

"That about sums it up."

"Would you have done it for anyone else?" Ecklie asked disbelievingly as Grissom looked up at him for a moment before answering.

"I'd do it for every single member of my team if I had to."

"Even for that half-CSI Greg Sanders?" Sara saw it before anyone: Grissom's eyes flared and his jaw set as he glared at Ecklie. Ecklie saw it next: Grissom jumped out of his chair and got up in Ecklie's face. Rory almost fell out of his seat before he and Sara both stood up.

"You can insult _me_," Ecklie didn't know what to do; he was frozen to his spot. The sheriff tried to break the two of them up, but Grissom wasn't backing down.

"Gil!" He tried to get through to him and failed.

"You can even insult my _career_,"

"Gil! Settle down!" Sara stood in front of her chair and, for the first time in a long time, she felt completely helpless.

"But you will _never_ insult my team or _anyone_ I care about." Rory finally got in between them and put a hand on each of their chests and pushed Grissom away from him.

"Hey! Hey, settle down. Grissom!" He obscured his line of view. "Settle. Down." Rory looked at Sara. "Take him over there," He pointed to the far corner of his office. "And let him cool off." She nodded, grabbed Grissom's arm, and led him to where he told her to take him.

"Gil?"

"He is such a-"

"Shh.. I know, I know." She embraced him in a hug. "What I need you to do right now is settle down." He returned her hug, closed his eyes, and exhaled slowly.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. Her grip on him just tightened. On the other side of the room, Ecklie was getting his ass handed to him on a silver platter.

"What the _hell_ is wrong with you?"

"Noth-"

"Then why in the _world_ would you go and do something _stupid_ like that?"

"I...I don-"

"Assistant Lab Director or not; you have absolutely _no_ right to insult that man or his team!" Rory looked over at Sara and Grissom. "I've decided not to do anything about them. Everything's going to stay exactly the same on Graveyard."

"What?! Sir, I don't think that's a goo-" He held a hand up for silence.

"You're on Administrative Leave." Ecklie's eyes grew like a sponge absorbing water. "Without pay." Ecklie's mouth dropped open. "I want you _gone_ when shift is over and I don't want to see again for another three weeks." He walked away, leaving Ecklie's mouth agape and his eyes large with surprise. He approached the other two quietly. "Gil?" He looked up at the mention of his name and sheepishly looked back down.

"I'm sorry for my behavior, Sheriff." He shook his head.

"I don't fault you for what you did, Gil. Conrad was way out of line." Grissom looked up at him and gave him a slight nod.

"What did you decide about..'us'?" Sara asked and the sheriff immediately shook his head.

"You have kept this under wraps and out of the public eye long enough to know what you can and can't do. You two can go ahead and leave; I'll see you later." Grissom and Sara both nodded and moved towards the door.

"Thank you, Rory." He looked back at Grissom and smiled.

"Take care of her, Gil." He smiled back at him and walked out the door after Sara. The twosome followed the exact same path the took to get in the Lab back outside and to Sara's Denali. Grissom got in on the driver's side again and Sara got in on the passenger's side. They sat in the truck for a minute, totally quiet. At the same time, they looked at each other and immediately smiled. Sara flung herself over the console between them, threw her arms around his neck, and her lips went to his like a magnet being attracted to metal.

"You did it, Gil!" She said when they parted.

"No, honey," He shook his head and smiled. "_We_ did it." Sara kissed Grissom again before he started the truck and backed up out of the parking space. They proceeded to leave the Crime Lab and headed for home.

_The End!!_

_A/N: I'm finally finished!! YAY!! I'm so happy. After I finished writing the last chapter, I asked myself, 'Do I need to add an epilogue after this?' Naturally, I didn't know, but I did anyway. So, this chapter ends the initial storyline, but the epilogue just kinda ties everything off, I guess. Either way, tell me if I should keep or delete it 'cause I really don't know...help me...lol_


	25. Epilogue

_**Title:**__ Welcome Home_

_**Author:**__ Viggorrah _

_**Disclaimer:**__ If I owned CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, do you seriously think I would be writing this? I would be writing screenplays, not Fan Fiction and meeting with William Petersen and the rest of the stars of the show. Who the **hell** do you think I am? _

_**Summary:**__ Epilogues don't have summaries…do they? _8/

Epilogue

Gil Grissom exited his office and strolled down the well-lit hallway of the Crime Lab. He had been released by his doctor to come back to work about four and a half weeks ago. Ecklie was still on Administrative Leave when Grissom went back to work and he was so happy he almost jumped for joy. Grissom had to stay at the lab and work on anything the rest of his team brought in, but tonight was the last night of that. He was going to be leaving the lab to go work on a case. He had saw mostly everyone already and he told them to wait in the breakroom for their assignments. That was almost ten minutes ago; Grissom had lost track of time and he was on his way there now. When he finally saw the breakroom and his team sitting in there talking amongst themselves, he opened the door and went inside. They all fell silent as he came in and opened the folder in his hand.

"Alright...Greg, Nicky: you two have a double homicide near Lake Mead. Detective Vega said he'd meet you out there; he's on his way." He handed the white slip of paper to Nick, who turned to his partner for the night and smiled. "Catherine: you have a DB at the Bellagio on the Strip." Grissom handed her the white slip of paper. "Sara: you, Warrick, and I have a triple homicide out in Henderson. Jim's already out there." He handed their slip to Sara and addressed all of them as a whole. "We all have a busy night ahead of us, guys. We shouldn't waste time; get going." With that, Catherine, Greg, and Nick exited the breakroom and Grissom turned to his partners for the night. "Meet me at my Denali in five minutes."

"Sure thing, Gris." Warrick answered him and left to go get his fieldkit. Sara followed Grissom out of the breakroom.

"Hey." She said. He looked back at her over the top of his glasses and grinned.

"Hey, Sara. You ready to work?"

"I'm always ready to work; I take after you."

"I'm one lucky guy, then, aren't I?" She smiled at him.

"You sure are." She changed to her Criminalist demeanor. "You seem to have fallen back into the Supervisor swing of things relatively nicely."

"Yeah. Now, I get to fall back into the normal swing of things by actually leaving the Lab to work on a case."

"It's been good to have you back."

"It' been good to be back, Sara." They reached his office. "Is your fieldkit in here or in my truck?"

"It's in your truck; I left it there last night after the case." Grissom put his folder in the back of his fieldkit, closed it, and carried back to the door.

"Let's go to the truck, then. We don't want to keep Warrick waiting."

"Right." She led the way from his office and towards the front of the Lab. Sara and Grissom passed the front desk and proceeded to go outside and to Grissom's Denali. He unlocked it, popped the truck, and placed his fieldkit on the floor of the truck. Sara had gotten in on the passenger's side and closed the door. A few seconds later, Warrick came gracefully walking out of the same door that they had just gone out of and over to them. Grissom took Warrick's fieldkit from him and put it next to his before shutting the truck door. He went to the driver's side and got in his truck.

"Alright, guys. Are we ready? You have everything?"

"I'm all set, Gris."

"Me too."

"Good. Let's go tackle this triple homicide."

--

Jim Brass stood right inside the "Crime Scene" tape, waiting for whoever was going to be working this case with him. He had been there for thirty minutes already and, to be perfectly truthful, he was getting antsy. Jim had already interviewed the man who found the bodies and sent him to stand and look pretty off to the side somewhere with an officer. He waited ten more minutes before he saw a dark blue Denali pull up and park between two cop cars. The lights were turned off, and three people climbed out and grabbed what seemed to look like giant briefcases from where he was standing. Jim knew which of the CSIs they were by three distinct clues: the silver fieldkit one man was carrying, the outline of one man's hair, and the tall, slender body of the woman. _'Gil, Sara, and Warrick are so different and yet they work so well together.._' He smiled as they neared him.

"Hey Jim." Grissom said when he was holding up the tape for Sara and Warrick to go under. Jim held it up for Grissom as he came under and told him the basic lineup of the crime scene.

"Three DBs; two female, one male. David's running a tad bit late, so I can't tell you TOD yet, but COD is easy: blunt-force trauma to the head. These kids were hit with something solid and thick. They seem to be in their late twenty's, early thirty's. One's in the hallway, another's floating in the pool out back, and the last one's in the kitchen." Grissom was surveying his crime scene and listening to Jim at the same time. When Jim finished, Grissom had everything planned out already.

"Warrick," He called. "It looks like you get to go swimming." Warrick smirked and nodded. "Sara, why don't you get the one in the hallway?" Warrick had gone ahead and went inside ahead of the other three. "I'll take the one in the kitchen." Sara had waited for him and Jim and they went inside as a group.

"Ok, Grissom." Jim followed Grissom to the kitchen and watched his friend observe the body that was lying on the floor. He put down his fieldkit and grabbed some Latex gloves to put on.

"So, it seems that you're all the way back now, huh?" The glove popped as Grissom let it go.

"Yeah. It feels great to finally have everything back to normal. And I mean _everything_." He put his other glove on and crouched down near the body. Grissom began extensively observing the body; he couldn't move it until the assistant coroner, David, pronounced them.

"I'm glad you're back. It's been too long since we've been on a case."

"Thanks, Jim."

"I guess you could say this is your third home; the crime scenes, I mean." Grissom looked at him curiously. "Welcome back home." He smiled up at his old friend and nodded once.

"Thanks." He answered. "Oh, and Jim? Do me a favor: would you go get us some coffee from a gas station somewhere? Sara, Warrick and I didn't feel like participating in Fear Factor tonight." Jim started laughing.

"Yeah...Sure thing, Gil."

_End _


End file.
